


SuperShots

by FeistyMouse



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Action, BAMF Alex Danvers, Big Sister Alex Danvers, Big Sister Maggie Sawyer, Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-03-27 00:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13868892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeistyMouse/pseuds/FeistyMouse
Summary: Soon-to-be a collection of Supergirl one-shots.





	1. To Alex

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex knows that her sister will catch her.

There's no hesitation in her mind when she realises that there's only one way to escape the Daxamite invaders that are beginning to overrun the DEO.

She has complete faith as she jumps off the side of the building because Kara always has her back.

She jumps and twists in the air, facing her enemy before firing one last shot.

What she doesn't expect is for one of their shots to glance her stomach just a fraction of a second before she disappears behind the side of the building.

Splitting pain burns through her muscles, aches to her bones as she plummets through the air. She can't breathe, can't think as she falls. Every fibre of her being is focused on the throbbing in her torso.

And then she feels arms wrap around her, holding her close, just as she knew they would.

She exhales sharply, but not in relief, though Kara doesn't know that.

She blinks to fight back the tears that spring to her eyes as her hands rest over the injured area, her heart racing. It hurts to touch, hurts to think about and Alex presses her face into Kara's shoulder so that her sister can't see when she scrunches it, bites down hard on her lip to stop a scream from escaping.

When Kara sets her down at the alien bar, she fights to stand up straight, refusing to let the pain beat her. She can't show any weakness, especially when there is so much at stake, especially not in front of the president.

She's thankful that the Daxamites use blasters and not bullets, otherwise blood would be soaking her skin and drenching her clothes, and then she wouldn't be able to help Kara.  
She tries her best to hide the pain, although she can tell from the looks that Maggie keeps giving her that the detective knows that something is wrong. She doesn't give her girlfriend the opportunity to ask her about it, though, and she barely has time to think about it herself, as hard as it is to forget.

Kara prepares to leave with Lillian, which everyone knows is a bad idea, but Alex knows that she would be doing the same if it were Maggie.

Through slightly blurred vision, Alex begs her sister to be quicker than her, faster than the positron cannon. She grasps Kara's arm in an attempt to keep herself steady, pulls her into a hug when she realises that the pain is getting worse.

Kara's parting words to Alex are something about a speeding bullet and as much as Alex tries to hang onto them, to focus on her sister's voice and overlook the irony, the words all blend into one, so she just nods and forces a small smile.

On the journey to the DEO, Alex remains silent and stares out of the window, trying not to make eye contact with Maggie. She visibly flinches every time they hit a bump in the road or round a corner because her muscles tense and send fresh flashes of pain surging through her body, but Maggie knows that Alex's silence means that she doesn't want to talk about whatever is bothering her so she nips her cheek between her teeth to stop herself from asking.

"She'll be fine, y'know," she says instead. "She'll be back."

Both women know that this isn't the only thing that's bothering Alex, but neither says anything else for the rest of the journey.

 

/

Alex bites down hard on her lip as she jumps into the vent, fighting the urge to cry out in pain. She grunts instead, making it sound like a natural reaction to the impact. She can taste metal in her mouth as drops of blood seep into it from her lip, but it's the least of her worries.

She just about manages to keep her voice steady as she acknowledges the president's commands.

But she can't fire, not yet.

She clings to the trigger, placing most of her weight against it in an attempt to alleviate some of the intense pain that still seems to be getting worse and worse with every passing second.

Sweat begins to form against Alex's hairline and she gingerly raises an arm to wipe it away.

And then the building rumbles and the canon is gone.

Alex looks at Maggie, her eyes filled with panic. She lets go of the trigger, but her next sudden movement sends pain shooting up her side.

She stumbles towards Maggie, her knees giving way beneath her as the pain worsens, burns deeper.

The detective reacts quickly, catching Alex before she can hit the ground. She lowers her gently so that the agent's back is resting against her legs.

"Hey, hey" Maggie coos, concern plastered across her features. "What's the matter, Alex? What's wrong?"

Alex sucks in a deep breath even though it's becoming a painful chore, more and more agonising with each rise and fall of her diaphragm. Her eyes suddenly overflow with tears as her breathing becomes smaller and more ragged. Despite her shaking hands, she manages to grab the hem of her shirt and pull it up enough to reveal a mass of purple covering the front of her body.

Through blurred vision, she sees Maggie's face full of horror, her usually calm, kind brown eyes filled with fear and panic.

"Oh my God, Alex," she almost shouts, unsure of what to do to ease her girlfriend's pain. Using the comms Alex had given her, she barks orders down the line to get the medical team down there.

"Stay with me, babe," she says soothingly, stroking Alex's hair and pressing kisses to her cheek and forehead.

Alex's eyes begin to droop closed, heavy from fighting the pain, fighting the Daxamites, fighting to stay awake.

Though she never stops battling, never stops wanting to overcome the fatigue to help her sister, to help Maggie to fight the Daxamites, her body takes over and begins to shut down and the last thing she thinks she hears is Maggie calling her name over and over again.

 

/

Alex's eyes flutter open.

The bright light surrounding her slowly pales until everything comes into focus and she eventually figures out where she is.

She tears her eyes from the med bay ceiling to find Maggie and Kara sat on either side of her bed, their heads resting against the soft mattress, arms outstretched over Alex's legs so that their hands grasp onto one another as they sleep.

That can't be comfortable, Alex thinks until she tries to reposition herself, sending pain flaring across her middle and realising the real meaning of discomfort.

The slight jolt and gasp from Alex rouses Maggie and Kara. Their faces light up when they see Alex smiling down at them.

"Oh Alex," Kara says, her voice catching in her throat at her eyes begin to fill with tears. "We thought we'd lost you."

Alex shakes her head, noticing how red and blotchy Kara's cheeks are as well as the puffiness that surrounds her normally striking eyes. "I'd never go anywhere without either of you."

"What happened, Alex?" Maggie asks, her face showing her concern.

Alex sucks in a deep breath, knowing that neither woman is going to like the answer.

"A Daxamite shot me as I jumped off the DEO," she says quickly and quietly, unable to look either Maggie or Kara in the eye.

"You jumped off the DEO?" Maggie almost shouts, eyes wide.

"Kara caught me, she knew it was coming," Alex says, glancing up at the now frowning detective.

"Wait, so all that time I carried you, all that time at the bar you were hiding it from us?" Kara says, pacing. She doesn't wait for her sister's answer because she already knows what it is. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Alex watches her sister as she perches by her legs at the edge of the bed. Maggie, meanwhile, stands with her arms folded, expression unreadable.

"I didn't want to add more pressure or stress to the situation." Alex keeps it short, although she knows she won't hear the end of it.

"But Alex, this is serious. You could have died. Doctor Hamilton says that had the shot hit you full on, you might not be here right now." Maggie can't stop her lip from quivering as she speaks, as Hamilton's words flood her head and fill her body with the same sense of dread as they did the first time they were spoken. "I can't live without you, Alex." She takes Alex's hand and feels the agent squeeze it back, letting her know that she's still here.

"I should have noticed," Kara says. "Rao, I'm such a terrible sister, I should have noticed. When I caught you I could hear your heart racing but I thought it was because you were falling. I'm so sorry, Alex." She shuffles off the bed, looks down at the ground, unable to look her sister in the eye, hands resting by her side.

" _No_ , Kara," Alex begins, her voice steely and commanding. " _Do_ _not_ blame yourself. You had so much to deal with already, you were worried about Lena and Mon-El and I didn't need to add to that list, didn't need to distract you or burden you with more stress. You had my back and I still wanted to have yours."

Kara tears her eyes from the ground to meet Alex's soft brown ones that are looking back at her. She takes in her sister and, even if Lena has to debrief J'onn about the lead diffuser and Mon-El's gone because of it, she's immediately grateful that she's with her.

Because Alex has always been there and Kara needs her by her side, wouldn't be the person she is without her.

"You're never a burden, Alex. Please know that," Kara says, stroking Alex's hair. "I'm always here for you, whenever you need me. I'll be with you every second until you're better."

Alex smiles at her little sister, the usually bubby blonde who currently has the weight of the world pressing on her shoulders, and feels proud of what she's achieved, of how she stands up in the face of danger and fights for everyone before herself.

It's only then that she realises that Maggie has been quiet for a few minutes.

"Maggie?" Alex says softly, catching her girlfriend's hand.

"I get why you didn't tell Kara," the detective snivels. "But why not tell me?"

Alex doesn't hesitate in her response. "Because I wanted to protect you, and you'd never have let me help."

"Damn right I wouldn't," Maggie says, causing Alex to laugh.

Maggie's shoulders visibly loosen at the sound.

"Come on," Alex says, holding out an arm to each woman on either side of her bed. "Come and have yourself an Alex sandwich."

Kara and Maggie do as Alex says, careful not to touch her anywhere near her stomach where the bruising was still purple.

"Wait, how are Lena and Mon-El?" Alex asks.

Kara's face falls. "The only way to stop the invasion was to fill the air with lead."

Alex pieces together the rest of the unspoken sentence. "So he's gone?"

Kara and Maggie nod solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Kara. I know you'd become good friends."

Kara nods her thanks but quickly changes the subject. "So when Maggie, Lena and I get you out of here, what film do you want to watch?"

Alex smiles at the normality of the question. "Something with lots of guns and battles."

Kara and Maggie laugh. Alex joins in too before she finds herself in the middle of another group hug, and that's exactly how Lena finds them.

/

A few days later, Alex is allowed home.

_I deserve to be_ , she thinks, after doing everything Hamilton and Maggie had demanded of her.

Kara refuses to let her big sister out of her sight and constantly throws questions at her, checking she's all right, checking that she's comfortable, checking what pizza toppings she wants.

Lena plants herself to Kara's right, offering Alex and Maggie some pizza before giving Kara a whole box to herself.

"So what was the president like?" The CEO asks, ripping off a bit of her slice before placing it delicately into her mouth.

"Amazing, as you'd expect," comes Kara's muffled reply, her own mouth stuffed with dough. She gulps it down. "But not as amazing as you."

Behind Kara, Alex and Maggie start giggling and making vomit noises at the Kryptonian's cheesy remark.

Lena laughs heartily while Kara glares good-naturedly at Alex and Maggie, who proceed to laugh even more when Kara puts on her best pout.

When they finally recover, Kara grabs her last slice of pizza and holds it in the air in front of her.

"To Alex," she says.

The three women around her hold their slices aloft and tap them against Kara's.

"And to always having each other's backs."


	2. You've Been Here Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to RkBeast on FF for this prompt in which Kara is kidnapped and tortured by CADMUS and Alex has to save her.
> 
> Just a warning about the torture, Kara takes a beating and is chained up.

Green.

It's the first thing Kara sees when she opens her eyes.

It's all around her.

The shade of green that she has come to hate so much.

The unmistakable, glowing green.

Kryptonite.

She groans as she tries to move, tries to look past the intense colour that attacks her eyes.

It's only when she tries to place a hand to her aching cheekbone that she realises that she can't.

She squints as she looks upwards.

Her wrists are chained together, bound by a lead clasp laced in 's head drops to the floor, but the sudden movement leaves her feeling lightheaded and shaky. Her knees wobble but she fights to remain standing, although she doesn't have much choice.

The more her eyes adjust, the more panicked she becomes.

The room is relatively empty, save for a workbench with a toolbox resting on top and a wooden chair that sits five feet away. Two windows are boarded at the top of the wall to her right, and Kara finds herself craving even the tiniest bit of natural light. None is able to seep through the bottom of the closed door set opposite and a little to her left. A single Kryptonite emitter sits on each of the four walls, bathing them in green.

She begins to tug at the chains that hold the handcuffs, making them clink and jingle loudly against the rusty bar that pins them to the wall, but her efforts prove to be fruitless when it doesn't budge.

_Think, Kara_ , she tells herself. _You've been here before._

She runs through every scenario in her head, thinks about how she's escaped similar situations.

Only one word springs to mind.

Alex.

Alex will come, she always does.

But she shouldn't have to.

Kara tugs harder on the chains, fights against the burning that covers every inch of her body as she desperately uses all of her energy to free herself.

Still, the pipe doesn't budge.

As Kara relents against her will, she hears footsteps.

Heels connect harshly with the concrete below.

She keeps quiet but knows that only one person in the world would wear heels to kidnap someone.

"Lillian," Kara exhales. "I should have known."

Lillian stands in the doorway, her hair clipped up neatly and her grey suit unruffled. She casts a sly grin at Kara.

"You're a smart girl, Kara. I thought you'd have learned by now."

Kara eyes the woman before her and refuses to show her any fear.

"What have you imprisoned me for this time?" She asks, wincing as her leg buckles and she jerks, sending a shooting pain up her right side and into her arm.

Lillian deflects the question. "Do you like my little inventions?" She holds her arms out as if she were showing Kara round a house.

Kara doesn't say anything, she just continues to glare at Lillian, a look of steely determination plastered on her face despite the throbbing throughout her body.

"Come on, Kryptonian, don't make me spell it out for you. What do you think of my Kryptonite emitters?"

Kara tastes blood in her mouth. She's biting her lip hard to stop herself from rising to Lillian's taunting.

"Personally, I think they brighten up the place, make it feel less like an underground bunker and more like the DEO training room you and your sister so often practice in."

Kara's resolute expression turns to one of shock. "How do you know about that?"

Lillian cackles, her eyes glinting. "I know a lot of things I shouldn't, dear. Don't worry your pretty little blonde head about it. It won't be your concern for much longer."

As she speaks, the door swings open once again. Henshaw strides in, slamming it shut behind him as Lillian perches on the single chair in front of Kara.

Kara watches the cyborg as he rattles the toolbox open. He retrieves a smaller box from inside. She can't see what it conceals, but she knows it can't be good.

The room is silent for a moment until Kara finds the energy to speak.

"Why-"

Kara is cut off when Henshaw spins on his heels, brandishing a Kryptonite rod. It takes five steps for his face to be just inches from hers.

Suddenly, after a small nod from Lillian, he lunges backwards and swings the rod, brining it full force against Kara's stomach.

The hero cries out in pain. Her stomach aches, her muscles pulse and she can already feel them bruising. She tries to swing a leg at the cyborg but he deflects it with the baton, connecting with it so hard that something cracks in her knee. Her legs fall from beneath her, which in turn jerks her arms violently. She just about manages to find her feet but has to put all her weight on her uninjured left in order to remain standing.

A punch to the face almost knocks her off balance, but she's expecting it this time. She feels her left cheek burning even more than before and as blood bonds with saliva in her mouth, she spits it out to her right.

When nothing else comes, Kara's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "You said it yourself, we've been here before so why stop? Why not kill me now?"

Hank returns to the work bench while Lillian studies the Kryptonian from her seat.

"Alex will come and you'll miss your chance, just like you always do."

In the silence that follows, realisation hits Kara harder than one of Henshaw's punches ever could. Her heart hits the floor, her body fills with adrenaline and rage and she grits her teeth.

"You want Alex to come, don't you?"

Lillian casts a sideways smile at Kara.

"Of course I do," she says simply, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I've come to realise that I've had my sights set too low. Whenever I try to rid this planet of you or any other aliens, she always gets in my way. So I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone?"

Kara grits her teeth. "No," she growls. "Do whatever you want to me, but _do not touch my sister_."

"I thought you might say that," Lillian says, laughing darkly. "But we both know that it's only a matter of time until she gets here."

Tears spring to Kara's swollen eyes then, and she can't control them. Her lip quivers, hard as she tries to stop it. She can't face the thought of anything happening to Alex because of her. Alex had been hurt too many times, lost too much in her life, just like Kara.

"While we wait for your sister to follow the Kryptonite signature, we've got a little something in store for you," Lillian snarls.

Henshaw turns away from the workbench he's spent so much time busying himself at. Clutched in his hand is a long, thin needle. The attached syringe holds a bubbling red liquid.

Red is worse than green.

Green means feeling pain, red means inflicting it on others.

"You're not going to kill Alex, are you?" Kara asks, already knowing what Lillian's answer will be.

"No. You are."

Kara begins to thrash around as Henshaw draws closer, refusing to allow him to inject her with the Red Kryptonite. He grabs her wrist, his grip strong and he brings the needle to Kara's skin.

"You can inject me with as much Red Kryptonite as you want, there's _nothing_ you could ever say or do to make me kill my sister."

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

Kara feels the needle as it stabs into her skin, but it doesn't get any further.

Light floods the small bunker as the wooden boards are flung from the windows and clatter against the floor. A single rope is thrown through the gap and Alex swings through, landing with a thud against the Lillian momentarily looks worried, she yells a command and five agents enter the little room.

Alex barely has time to look at her sister before she's swamped by flailing limbs from every angle.

She counters them all, not allowing a single attack to hit her and each of her precision-perfect strikes and kicks connect with her opponents with significant force, sending them all crashing to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Before she has time to even breathe, Henshaw drops the needle in Kara's arm and has his arm around Alex's neck, constricting her throat, and she begins to gasp for breath.

"No!" Kara screams, tugging at her restraints. "Alex!"

Lillian laughs. "You girls are so predictable."

Despite her head beginning to become fuzzy as her ability to breathe becomes less and less, Alex manages to reach a hand into her pocket. She pulls out a small round tube with a little red button on the top.

"N-never underestimate the p-power of a Danvers," she manages before bringing her boot down on Henshaw's toes.

The cyborg lets out a yelp before collapsing to the ground, clutching his hands over his ears and rocking on his side.

The smug smile drops from Lillian's face as she looks at Alex's thumb pressing down on the button and then at the gun that is being held in her direction.

"Clear!" Alex shouts, her voice a little hoarse.

DEO agents rush into the room. They apprehend Henshaw, who is still quivering on the ground, before handcuffing Lillian.

Alex pays them no attention as she frees Kara from her restraints with a single shot from her gun.

She catches Kara as she yelps and stumbles. "Shhh," she soothes. "It's okay, it's over." She catches a glimpse of her sister's swollen knee and looks at the gash across her cheekbone, the swelling around her reddened eyes and the way that she gingerly holds her hand over her stomach. "C'mon, let's get you our of here."

Kara slowly and unsteadily stands, still putting all of her weight on her left leg. She wraps her arms around Alex for support and feels her sister wind one of her own around her waist, taking some of her weight.

"I suppose that frequency emitter you used on Henshaw was the Toyman's son's little creation?" Lillian asks about Alex's device as she's led out of the door.

"No," Alex says, her own smug smile drawing itself across her face.

"It was Lena's."

/

Kara begins to feel better after a few hours under the sun lamps.

Lena and Maggie were already waiting for her at the DEO when she and Alex arrived and none of them have left her side since.

"Another hour and I promise we can go," Alex says to her sister.

Kara smiles. "Potstickers?"

"Typical," Alex laughs with a nod. Maggie joins in, unsurprised that Kara is thinking of food after the day she's had.

Lena remains quiet. She hasn't said much since she arrived and has struggled to look Kara in the eye.

"Lena, what do you want for dessert? Your choice," Kara says in an attempt to engage her in conversation.

The CEO looks in Kara's direction but her eyes are glazed over, like she isn't really focused on what Kara is asking.

"Lena?" Kara tries again.

"I'm so sorry, Kara," she mumbles, her eyes starting to shimmer with tears.

Kara's heart sinks. "Never apologise for her, Lena," she commands, grabbing Lena's hands and squeezing them tightly. "She's not your problem."

Lena sniffles.

"Plus, you helped to save Kara and Alex today which I think makes you pretty badass," Maggie adds, placing a supportive hand on Lena's shoulder and taking Alex's with her other.

Lena lets out a little laugh at the detective's compliment before sighing.

"Ice cream?" Kara asks.

Lena nods, a small smile beginning to creep across her face.

As they walk out of the med bay shortly after, Kara pulls her sister to one side.

"Thank you, Alex," she says sincerely, pulling her into a hug.

"Always, Kara."

They walk out, arms linked, knowing that despite everything that life has thrown at them, everything they've had to face and are sure to be up against in the future, they'd do anything to protect each other.

Because they're stronger together.


	3. Couples Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to The Louise for this prompt in which Maggie and Lena teach their girlfriends how to cook after their attempts fail miserably.

"Oh, come on!"

Kara rips the pan from the stove and flings its contents into the bin.

That's the fifth time in the last twenty minutes.

The stupid pasta just keeps burning. No matter what she tries - cooking it slowly, using a higher heat, boiling the water with heat vision first - it just keeps spoiling and turning into a yellow goopy mess.

She sinks to the floor against one of her cupboards and brings her knees to her head in an attempt to let her frustration dissipate.

She doesn't want help with this. She wants to do something on her own for once, without having to rely on someone else.

Still, she goes back and forth trying to decide whether to call Alex.

All she knows is that she can't let Lena down. With an exasperated sigh, Kara reaches for her phone on the counter, unwilling to move from her hunched position.

"Alex, I need your help," Kara states matter-of-factly, trying not to sound defeated.

"What is it? Is everything okay?" Alex suddenly sounds worried.

"No, everything is not okay!" Kara almost shouts. "I'm supposed to be making dinner for Lena and I can't cook the stupid pasta!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously! It just keeps turning to mush!"

"No, this is seriously why you're calling me right now?"

Kara sighs in frustration, causing Alex to laugh.

"I'm on my way."

/

Alex enters Kara's apartment to find her sitting on the floor by her cooker. She eyes the almost-empty packet of pasta, the contents of which are strewn across her counter, the way that the pan sits wonky on the hob, a wooden spoon abandoned next to it. "Wow, this pasta really broke you, huh?"

Kara looks at her sister and pouts, the crinkle making its appearance between her eyebrows.

Alex sighs as she walks to the kitchen and stands in front of her sister. When Alex doesn't say anything, Kara looks up to see her holding out her hands and flicks her fingers to encourage her. Kara takes them and allows Alex to pull her up.

"Ugh, why did I tell her I'd make dinner?" Kara moans. "I never cook. I hate cooking."

"Because you want to do something nice," Alex replies. "Now come on, hand me the pan."

Kara stroppily passes the pan to Alex who fills it with water and sets a light underneath it.

"What are you having with it?" Alex asks, tugging open the door to Kara's fridge and finding it relatively bare.

"Bolognaise, I guess," Kara replies, pulling out a few ingredients from her cupboard.

Alex's phone begins to ring and she pulls it from her pocket.

"Hey Maggie," she says, flicking it onto loudspeaker and setting it on the counter.

"What's up, Danvers?" Maggie replies. "We've finished up early, do you want me to grab takeout on my way home?"

"Actually, I'm at Kara's," Alex replies, scrunching her eyebrows together as she watches Kara inspect the lightly bubbling water before heat visioning it and dropping in some pasta. "She's having a cooking crisis."

Maggie laughs. "And she called you?"

Kara giggles at Maggie's insult before almost doubling over in laughter at the sight of Alex's affronted face.

"You called Alex?" Maggie says louder, not realising that she's on speaker and knowing that Kara will hear her anyway. "You called _Alex_ to help you cook?"

"I had no choice," Kara replies, trying to regain her composure. "It was a disaster."

"You disaster will turn into a catastrophe that even Supergirl won't be able to handle!" Maggie chuckles. "Don't let her touch anything if you value your life and ever want to look at food the same again."

"Hey, I'm a great cook!" Alex defends, glaring at her sister who has resumed laughing. It's that infectious laugh that would usually have Alex giggling along with her but right now she's too busy trying to defend cheffing abilities and her honour to join in.

"Babe, the last time you made dinner even Kara got sick," Maggie states, the playfulness in her voice replaced by seriousness. "And we didn't even think that was possible. You _actually_ poisoned the Girl of Steel."

Alex huffs.

Kara tilts her head to one side, her brows knitting in contemplation at Maggie's truth. She puffs out her cheeks as she lets out a long exhale. "Yeah, I did _not_ consider that."

"And we said that we would never talk about that again," Alex whines, leaning against the counter, her head in her hands. "But you loved that lasagne I made you last night!"

"Babe, that isn't cooking," Maggie replies. "You heated up a microwave meal."

Kara laughs. "I suddenly feel so much better about myself!" She declares jokingly, her mood lifted.

Alex pulls a face at her sister.

"Listen, I'm on my way," Maggie sighs. "Just don't touch anything until I get there."

"Uh, babe?" Alex whispers, peering into the bubbling pan.

"Yeah?"

"Could you bring some more pasta?"

Maggie chuckles.

"Already on it."

/

Maggie can hear a commotion coming from Kara's apartment as walks down the hall and draws closer to the door.

She opens it cautiously to find Alex and Kara huddled over something on the counter, trying to barge each other out of the way. They don't even notice as she closes the door and puts down the shopping bag, trying to avoid the mess they've created.

"You're doing it all wrong!" Kara exclaims, bashing Alex with her hip.

"This is how mom taught me to do it!" Alex replies, thumping her sister right back.

"Don't pretend that you ever listened to what Eliza said!" Kara jibes back. "Whatever she told you to do, you _always_ did the opposite!"

"I did _not_!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

A giggle from Maggie halts their argument. They both freeze before slowly turning to look at her, embarrassment etched across their features.

Maggie's dimples dance on her cheeks as she struggles to keep a straight face.

"You two are such babies! Feisty, yes, badass, definitely, but babies."

"She started it!" Alex exclaims, pointing at Kara, all innocence.

"No, you started it!"

"Hey!" Maggie bellows. "Quit arguing!"

Alex and Kara dip their heads in shame but not before they look visibly shocked by the booming voice that has just erupted out of such a tiny body.

Kara tries to stifle a giggle.

"What's so funny, Little Danvers?" Maggie asks, raising her eyebrow at the giggling Kryptonian.

"N-nothing, detective!" Kara manages between sharp intakes of breath.

Alex begins to laugh too which only causes the detective more confusion.

"Your face, it's so serious," Alex stutters. "And you shouted at us like we're in custody."

Maggie places her hands on her hips, keeping up the facade.

"Pull yourselves together!" She yells, beginning to chuckle too.

After the three of them calm down - which takes a while - Maggie pulls out the new bag of pasta and empties it into the pan.

"Okay, now for the bolognaise." She spies some chopped onion. "Who mutilated that?" She asks, concerned. Every piece is cut into a different size.

Alex slowly raises her hand, a little apprehensive about Maggie's reaction.

"It's a mess," she mutters, unimpressed. "But it'll have to do. Kara, get the garlic bread out of your freezer and put it on a tray."

Kara follows the detective's orders and carefully places two baguettes on a tray, leaving two in the packet.

"What can I do?" Alex asks quietly, looking awkward.

"Set the oven to the temperature it says on the packet."

Alex grabs the packet and flicks on the oven as Maggie throws some oil into another pan, adding some ingredients periodically.

"What time is Lena due?" Alex asks as Kara puts the garlic bread in the oven. She pulls out the shelf without using mitts and places the tray in the centre.

"Half an hour or so," Kara replies, brushing her hands against her trousers.

"Okay, well we can leave that to simmer for a while," Maggie says, flopping down onto Kara's couch, rubbing her hands against her tired eyes and letting out a quiet sigh. "Don't forget to set the timer!"

Kara and Alex begin to tidy up before joining Maggie on the couch.

"Thank you, you guys," Kara says, flopping next to Alex who has Maggie curled into her side.

Alex tickles the detective's hairline, strokes it gently with her fingers.

"No problem, Little Danvers," comes Maggie's muffled reply.

Kara flicks on the TV and the sisters try their best to not disturb the snoozing detective as they chuckle along to an episode of Parks and Rec. A particularly funny moment makes Alex's body shake with uncontrollable laughter, causing Maggie to stir. She sits up and brushes the hair out of her face before checking her watch. Lena is due within the next five minutes.

"Has the timer gone off?"

Kara and Alex shake their heads in unison.

"Well it shoulda," Maggie sighs, hauling herself from the couch. "Who set it?"

No one says anything. Maggie looks between Alex and Kara, who glance at each other incriminatingly.

"Neither of you?"

Both women shake their heads.

"You're kidding, right?"

When neither Danvers dares look the detective in the eye, she makes a beeline for the kitchen.

"Shit."

Kara and Alex dash from the couch and stand either side of Maggie, glancing over her shoulder.

The sauce has burned and is stuck to the edges of the pan, steam billowing from its centre. The pasta has turned to a squidgy mush.

Kara crouches in front of the oven. She quickly yanks open the door to retrieve the crisp garlic bread that is so overdone you could probably use it as a weapon.

"You guys had one job!" Maggie exclaims, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"I thought she'd set it!" Alex declares.

"And I thought she'd set it!" Kara states.

"And when it didn't go off neither of you thought to question it?"

The kitchen descends into chaos as each woman argues over the other. Kara dumps the garlic bread in the bin in a huff. Alex flings open a cupboard in order to grab some more ingredients to start again but knocks a tin into the still-boiling pan of sauce, sending the liquid splashing across the counter, up the backsplash and all over her t-shirt.

"Crap!" She exclaims, taking a step back and trying to hold her shirt away from her skin so that it doesn't burn her.

"You're making a mess!" Kara moans.

"It was an accident! We can just leave you to it!" Alex yells.

Lena opens the door to find Alex yanking at her t-shirt and bouncing on the spot in a nervous effort to keep it away from her skin, Maggie sitting at the kitchen island with her head on the counter, silent and unmoving and Kara throwing her hand into the boiling, steaming pan in an effort to salvage the can that had splattered into it.

"And I thought the Luthor household was crazy….. What the hell is going on in here?"

Kara and Alex fight to talk over each other but a glare from Maggie silences them.

"Kara wanted to make you something special for dinner but she can't cook, so she called Alex, who is worse-"

"Hey!"

"And then I came round and everything was under control until I made the stupid mistake of closing my eyes for five minutes and neither of these idiots set the timer so it's all ruined. Again!"

Lena can see the guilty looks shadowed on Kara and Alex's faces.

"Kara, that's so sweet, but you didn't have to go to all this trouble!" Lena says kindly, pulling Kara in for a hug. "We can just order a takeout, we always do!"

"We do not!" Kara says, pulling her head away from her shoulder to look her girlfriend in the eye.

"It's all you Danvers girls ever eat!" Maggie adds.

"Nuh-huh," Alex retorts, now standing next to Kara to face Maggie and Lena.

"Please, you're like two college students. You have no idea how to cook," Lena says, one brow raised.

The room is silent for a moment as Kara and Alex decide to stop bothering to defend themselves, because there really is nothing to defend.

"I have an idea," Maggie says, a thoughtful look in her soft brown eyes. They meet Lena's bold green ones and she knows exactly what the detective is thinking.

"Kara, go get some more ingredients," Maggie says, knowing that they're going to need lots more.

With a wide grin plastered across her face, Lena claps her hands together as she finishes Maggie's sentence. "We are going to give our girls a cooking lesson!"

/

Lena stands behind Kara, peering over her shoulder. Her arm rests atop her girlfriend's, her hand wrapped around Kara's, which holds a knife.

"Good, now chop slowly," Lena instructs, guiding Kara's hand so that it slices carefully through an onion.

With Lena's body pressed against hers, Kara struggles to focus on chopping until Lena decides to move her hand away, and suddenly she wishes it would never leave hers.

"See, it's just like riding a bike," Lena says. "You'll get the hang of it."

Kara continues to chop and the more she slices, the more confident she becomes until she accidentally hits her own finger with the knife instead of the onion.

The knife cracks and Kara glares at it, frustrated. Her heat vision quickly sews up the crack but Lena, Alex and Maggie definitely notice.

"It's a good job you can't feel physical pain," Lena mutters, shaking her head.

She wraps her arms around Kara again as the blonde begins to slice slowly.

As she retracts them, she places them on Kara's waist, which causes the Kryptonian to squirm and giggle.

Lena looks at Alex and Maggie, perplexed. She only touched her waist, let her fingers linger there. _What's so funny about that?_ She wonders. And then realisation strikes.

"You just sliced your own finger and didn't even flinch but the second my fingers touch your hips you jump and wriggle around?" Lena pokes Kara's sides, making her jump around in an effort to evade her girlfriend's attack. "You're ticklish! I guess Kryptonite isn't your only weakness." Lena grins at Kara as she flirts, making Kara giggle more.

"You, Lena Luthor, are my biggest weakness," Kara replies soppily before wrapping a hand behind Lena's neck and pulling her in for a long, lingering kiss. Both women can feel the other smiling as their soft lips caress and Kara's hands travel down to Lena's waist, but the CEO doesn't squirm like her girlfriend.

"Ugh, new couples, they make me sick," Maggie jokes, grinning from ear to ear as she glances up at Alex. The elder Danvers snorts and has to bite her lip in order to stop herself from laughing further.

"Just because you're past the honeymoon stage, doesn't mean that you can rain on ours!" Kara teases, one arm wrapped around Lena.

Alex sticks her tongue out and makes a funny noise, and Kara does it right back.

"Babies," Maggie mutters to herself, shaking her head but also thinking about how lucky she is that this crazy family is hers. "Anyway, get back to work!"

Kara salutes with her free arm and unravels the other from around her girlfriend. She picks up the knife and begins to hack away, this time at a clove of garlic.

Alex follows suit with an onion but is much slower and less confident than Kara, probably because she's more at risk of chopping off a finger than her sister.

"C'mon, Alex, we'll be here all day!" Maggie jibes.

Alex glares at her girlfriend before huffing and offering her the knife with attitude.

Maggie looks at Alex sceptically before taking the knife. She delicately divides the onion with grace, elegance, poise, and she does it so quickly that even Kara would have missed it if she blinked.

"Damn, Sawyer," Alex says, impressed. "That was so cool! And pretty hot." She winks at Maggie and pulls her lip between her teeth.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Kara asks, amazed.

"My aunt taught me. I always helped her with dinner." Maggie smiles a little as she reflects on what was probably one of the happiest times she remembers as a teenager.

"What about you, Lena? How did I not know you can cook?" Kara asks, meeting her girlfriend's eyes before Lena tears hers away.

"Well, I guess that's one advantage of having a mother who doesn't really care about you," Lena shrugs, staring absently at the floor, not really talking to anyone in particular. "It was cook for myself or starve. And I'm pretty sure she had our chef killed when he accidentally undercooked Lex's chicken and made him sick."

No one knows how to respond to that. Kara and Maggie grimace awkwardly. Alex opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out; she has always been good at trying to empathise with Kara whenever she reflects on something that happened on Krypton but she has no idea how to handle Lena's sudden revelation.

They continue to prepare the food in silence, throwing the meat into the pan. Alex later adds some herbs and carefully stirs her bolognaise, peering over her shoulder to find Maggie watching her closely before she loosely wraps her arms around Alex, lightly digging her chin into her shoulder.

"That's looking great, babe," Maggie says, patting Alex's back. The agent turns and plants a kiss in Maggie's hair. With her heart full of love for the beautiful soul beside her, she envelopes her girlfriend and holds her close, grateful that she has given up her evening off to help her and her sister.

As Kara assesses the pasta pan, Lena checks on the garlic bread, which is well on its way to being crisp to perfection. She grabs a spoon from the drawer and dips it into Kara's sauce before holding it out for her to blow on to cool it a little.

Kara is careful that she doesn't use her freeze breath and mould the spoon to Lena's hand. That would be more disastrous than having seven attempts at making pasta.

The CEO tastes the sauce. When her eyebrows knit together, Kara feels her heart sink. All she wanted was to get this right, to do something special for Lena and she's failed.

Lena sees Kara's face fall and it tugs at her heartstrings when she sees how disappointed she looks. "No!" She exclaims, smiling at her girlfriend in order to reassure her. She reaches out and strokes Kara's cheek. "It's delicious."

"You don't have to make me feel better, it's okay," Kara mumbles sadly, her shoulders slumped.

"Honestly sweetie, it's delicious!"

"Hey, we should blindfold them and get them to tell us whose is better!" Alex exclaims, looking over at Kara excitedly.

"No! No more competitions, please!" Maggie declares, holding her hands up almost in surrender. "I can't take another argument. All I do know is that Eliza is a saint for putting up with you two."

Alex and Kara feign insult before returning their attention to their cooking. Lena stands next to Maggie and folds her arms as they watch their girlfriends. The detective pulls out her phone. Kara and Alex are so engrossed in their cooking, at making sure that everything's perfect that they don't notice as Maggie snaps a few photos. She shows them to Lena who lets out a little giggle at the concentrated faces of the Danvers girls, Kara's crinkle overtaking her features.

"I guess we should get going," Maggie says.

"No, stay!" Kara exclaims, her crinkle forming deeper.

"We can't intrude on your date night!" Alex says.

"You wouldn't be intruding, really," Lena adds. "We'd love to have you. Plus, I'm not getting food poisoning on my own if this goes wrong."

/

A few minutes later after Kara and Alex dish up the food, which results in further mess when Kara spills some sauce, the four of them sit around Kara's dining table.

Kara raises her glass for a toast. The clink echoes through the apartment and they tuck in.

Both Alex and Kara's food is so delicious that they each have a second helping, except Kara who has a third and devours a whole garlic bread baguette on her own!

Stuffed, they retire to Kara's couch where Alex rests her head against Maggie's lap and lets her play with her hair. Kara snuggles into Lena's side. Each blink becomes longer and more difficult, but she fights to stay awake.

"Thank you all for your help today," she mumbles against Lena's side. "But I think I've done enough cooking to last me a lifetime."

"Me too," Alex mutters, letting out a tired sigh.

Maggie and Lena glance at each other. Lena's mouth turns up at the sides as she smirks at Maggie, whose dimples are on full show, her eyes shining.

"Oh, my sweet Danvers girls," Maggie teases, her tone light.

Lena finishes the detective's sentence again.

"We're just getting started!"


	4. Thunder Buddies for Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to KaraLena90 for this prompt! Kara has invited Lena over for movie night and Lena has to comfort Kara when a thunderstorm hits.

 

 

 

Every little crackle and pop makes Kara jump.

Ping, pop, poof.

Jump, twitch, jolt.

And then the microwave rings even louder.

Kara uses her super speed to silence it, unable to take the sensory overload any longer.

All the extra noise makes her feel more on edge than she already normally would.

Stupid thunderstorms.

Why do they have to be so loud?

And why does the popping of the popcorn have to sound the same in her hypersensitive ears?

She pulls the bag from the microwave, not flinching despite the heat that it radiates, and dumps the contents into a huge bowl.

She checks her watch.

Lena is due any minute now. She's invited her to a movie night, just the two of them, with the intention of having her back the following evening to the big movie night with Alex and Maggie.

But if she'd known that it was going to thunder, she would have chosen another night.

Any other night.

Kara should be enjoying herself as she gets the snacks ready, should be excited for movie night.

But she's not.

She's anxious, jumpy, a little scared.

Stupid thunder.

It's not even overhead yet and it's still bothering her.

Still, she vows that she won't let it ruin her evening with her best friend, promises that she'll have a good time.

A rap at the door makes Kara jump.

Again.

She hadn't even heard Lena approaching like she normally does. She's too focused on trying _not_ to focus on the storm outside, on trying not to let the images of Krypton exploding play over and over again in her mind, afraid to close her eyes in case that's what she sees, that that's where she really is when she opens them again. She takes a deep breath and does her best to sound chirpy and bright, her usual bubbly self. "Come in!"

The door handle slides down and Lena's head appears first as she enters Kara's apartment.

"Hey!" Kara exclaims.

Lena gives her her biggest, brightest smile. "Hey!"

"Oh my Rao, you're dripping wet! Do you want some fresh clothes?"

Lena shakes her head and smiles at Kara's unusual expression. "I've not even walked here! My driver dropped me off as close to your door has he could."

Kara ignores Lena's shaking head. She disappears into her bedroom and grabs a pair of comfy joggers, a NASA hoodie and the woolliest socks she can find in her drawer.

Lena is hanging up her soaked coat when Kara re-enters the living area.

"Here, go get changed," Kara says, handing the bundle of warm clothes to Lena. Thunder crashes in the distance and she almost drops the clothes, although she manages to recover quickly enough that she hopes Lena doesn't notice.

Lena raises her eyebrow at her best friend. It's sweet that she cares that much. No one else would ever have grabbed dry clothes and she has never been invited for a movie night with anyone before, let alone two in two nights.

She reappears a couple of minutes later, her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, Kara's NASA hoodie comfy and snug against her cool skin.

Kara smiles at her friend. "The other side of Lena Luthor," she says cheekily.

"Hey, if you tell anyone you've seen me in anything but a blouse and pencil skirt, I'll have you fired," Lena jokes.

Kara holds her hands up. "I'm not saying anything except what film to you want to watch?"

Lena thinks for a moment. "What about The Hunger Games? I'm a sucker for a good heroine."

Kara nods her agreement. "Me too!" She grabs the DVD from her cupboard and shoves it into the player. She jumps as thunder cracks before composing herself. "Catching Fire is the best though. I must've read that book a hundred times."

Lena laughs. "That's something I can believe."

Kara grabs the bowl of popcorn from the table and collapses into her couch. She places the bowl between her and Lena so that they can share it, although Kara knows that she'll probably eat most of it. Kara's immense appetite hasn't gone unnoticed by Lena, who figures that she'd better grab a handful if she wants any!

The pair watch as Katniss volunteers for her sister and it tugs at their heart strings.

"I wish I'd had someone who'd volunteer for me," Lena mutters almost without realising.

Kara looks at her, feels a pang of sadness for Lena and her family situation. "I'd volunteer for you."

Lena raises her eyebrow, a little surprised but genuinely touched. "You would?"

"In a heartbeat," Kara nods with absolute certainty. She flinches and grimaces at the rumble from outside.

"I could never let you fight to the death for me," Lena says, grabbing a handful of popcorn and noticing Kara's tenseness. "You're too sweet and innocent. And your weapon of choice would probably be a notebook."

Kara smiles and adjusts her glasses. "I'm tougher than you think. Plus you'd have no choice because you can't volunteer for me if I volunteer for you."

"Yeah, but we both know that Alex would volunteer for you faster than Supergirl can fly."

Kara pulls a face that lets Lena know that she's exactly right. "But she'd win. I wouldn't fancy anyone's chances against her."

_Especially with all the hours she puts in training at the DEO_ , Kara thinks. She's basically trained for the Hunger Games for the last few years with all the combat, weapons and survival skills she's learned.

The women return their attention to the film. Thunder continues to clap and it shocks Kara every time even though she knows it's coming.

The time comes for the tributes to enter the arena. Kara and Lena watch as some of them slay one another mercilessly and are later declared dead.

Bang.

Kara visibly jumps, feels her heart beat faster. She forgot about the death cannons. They sound just like thunder as they echo across the arena, echo through Kara's head and ring in her ears.

As the last cannon fires, the real thunder roars, finally overhead. Kara squeezes her eyes shut, retreats into the couch and has to put every ounce of focus into remembering to breathe in and out slowly. At first she struggles but she quickly finds Alex's heartbeat. The regularity of the thump thump thump sooths her as she opens her eyes and removes her hands from over her ears, the hands that she didn't even realise were there.

"Kara?" Lena says, her voice full of concern as she watches her friend pull her knees to her chin. "Kara, what is it?"

From her curled position, Kara can see the worry etched across Lena's features, her eyebrows knitted together and her bold green eyes wide with concern.

She reaches out to place a comforting hand on Kara's knee. "Kara?"

Kara begins to shake her head. "I'm okay." Her voice wavers and is completely unconvincing to Lena.

"You're obviously not, Kara. If you'd jumped any higher I'd have had to have peeled you off the ceiling."

"It's stupid."

Lena caringly pats Kara's knee. "I bet it's not. You can tell me anything, y'know?"

Kara takes a few deep breaths before she allows herself to speak again. "I….. I have astraphobia."

"Fear of thunderstorms?"

Kara nods, but all Lena can see is a bobbing sea of blonde hair.

"Aww sweetie," Lena coos. She scooches across the couch and wraps her arms around her frightened friend who is still rolled into a protective little ball. She gently rubs her arm soothingly. "Why didn't you say something?"

Kara shrugs. She can't tell Lena the real reason and it takes a lot of effort not to. "It's embarrassing."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone's scared of something." Thunder rumbles loudly as Lena speaks and she feels Kara's body tense against hers.

"Oh yeah? What are you afraid of?" Kara's voice is barely audible as she speaks into her legs, muffling her voice.

Lena doesn't even have to think but takes a moment before she gives her answer. "Feeling alone forever."

Kara hears the change in Lena's heartbeat. She looks up to see her best friend staring absently through the window where the rain is beating against it. Kara is suddenly overcome with more sadness for her friend.

"You'll never be alone," Kara says strongly, with meaning, her terrified eyes finding Lena's. "You have me and Sam. We love you."

Lena's eyes suddenly brim uncontrollably with tears, partly due to the worry she's feeling for her friend. "I've always felt so alone, ever since Lex stopped being Lex. But you guys are my family. I guess my biggest fear is losing either or both of you because I've been so alone for most of my life and having friends seems too good to be true and I don't know who I'd be without you-"

Kara finds the strength to uncurl herself and grabs a tissue from the box in the middle of the table that she had ready for when Rue dies because that scene gets her every time.

But seeing her best friend like this makes her feel so much worse to the point that she forgets about the thunder until it crashes again.

With the film now completely forgotten, Kara slightly shakily takes Lena's hands. "You're never alone and we're not going anywhere."

Lena nods as she tries to believe Kara's words. She really wants to, and maybe one day she will.

"Kara, you're shaking!" Lena's attention is suddenly solely focused on her friend when she realises that the hands that are holding hers are trembling.

"I just really hate the thunder," Kara mutters, no longer meeting Lena's eyes.

"What can I do to make it better?"

Kara shrugs, plays with the bottom of her caridgan. "I usually just ride it out. Alex normally comes round and we just talk. She's always been there for me, knows exactly what to say to make me feel better. She's the one who calmed me down the first time I had a panic attack because of a storm."

"Well, I'm not Alex but I'm here and I'll do my best," Lena says softly to reassure her friend.

Kara's phone vibrates before emitting a chirpy tone which causes her to jump. She grabs it from the table.

Alex.

With her timing, you'd think she was the one with super hearing.

Kara can't get a word in. Alex throws tons of questions at her. Is she okay? Did she know that there was going to be a storm? Does she want her to come round?

"I'm fine, Alex," Kara beings before being cut off again.

"I know that's not true, Kara. I'm on my way."

"No! It's okay, really. Lena's here." Kara smiles at her friend who has been watching her intently as she speaks to her sister.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Alex sighs, giving in. "Call me if anything changes. Promise?"

"Promise."

Kara tosses her phone onto the couch.

"Your sister's pretty great, huh?" Lena says and Kara nods. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so scared of storms?"

Kara has been dreading this question. There's no comparable explanation for my-planet-blew-up-right-in-front-of-me-and-it-still-gives-me-nightmares and she'd never had to explain her fear to anyone before because Alex and Eliza and Jeremiah were the only ones who needed to know, the only people who understood. "There was this one time when I was little and I was, uh, travelling in a car and the thunder boomed all around me. I saw lightning hit a tree and it set on fire and then sparks flew from a phone line and another tree crashed to the ground and it just really scared me. I felt so tiny and alone. I thought I'd never get away from it, that it would get me like it got the trees. It felt like my world was falling apart and sometimes when I close my eyes I see it like it's happening all over again."

Lena almost doesn't know what to say. Kara's answer wasn't what she was expecting. "I'm sorry you had to experience that, Kara. It sounds awful."

Kara manages a small weak smile and as she tenses again with another grumble sounding overhead, Lena thinks of a way that she can try to take her mind off it.

"You know the Thunder Buddies song, right?"

Kara's signature crinkle forms proudly between her eyebrows.

"The one from Ted. Y'know… _When you hear the sound of thunder, don't you get too scared_ …"

Lena stops, hoping that the adorable blank look Kara is giving her will disappear and she'll join in, because she feels so silly right now.

When she doesn't, Lena continues with an embarrassed little sigh and a huge smile.

_"_ _Just grab your Thunder Buddy and say these magic words."_

Lena grabs Kara's hands and begins to swing them around as she sings, noting how toasty and warm they are until she quickly drops one to do the gesture that accompanies the rude lyrics that she's about to proudly sing. She throws her hand up in the air.

" _Fuck you thunder, you can su-"_

Kara begins to giggle uncontrollably. Lena frowns until she realises why Kara is laughing.

"Kara! You sneaky little… You know the words, don't you?"

Kara grins and nods as she adjusts her glasses. "I just wanted to hear you sing it. I honestly didn't think you'd actually get that far, or do the gesture!" She rolls around in fits of laughter as she has to evade the barrage of couch cushions that her best friend playfully throws at her. Kara notes the red of embarrassment in Lena's cheeks as she bites her bottom lip trying to fight giggles but fails miserably. She laughs so hard that she begins to cry.

"I n-never had you d-down as a Ted fan," Kara manages between sharp intakes of breath. "And you sing nicely. Aren't you f-full of surprises?"

Lena beams at Kara. She's successfully diverted her attention from the storm, even if it was at the expense of her pride.

"I take back what I said earlier about the clothes, because if you ever tell anyone about _this_ I'll fire you from CatCo _and_ never come to a movie night again."

"Oooh, a double threat," Kara teases, holding her hand over her heart to show that she feels wounded. She lets out a small steady breath as a clap ricochets around her head.

"Oh sweetie," Lena coos. She wraps Kara in a hug again and rubs gentle hands up and down her back. "Can I get you anything?"

"Uh, just a glass of water please. And some ice cream."

Lena raises her eyebrow skeptically, drawing a laugh from Kara. She can tell that her friend is wondering how she can eat so much, but she doesn't voice it.

When Lena returns with two tubs of ice cream, Kara gives her a wide smile even as thunder booms again. She's grateful for Lena's understanding and for being with her when she feels like she's at her weakest.

Lena feels lucky that she has a best friend who is as sweet and kind as Kara and tries to make her feel better even when she herself is scared. And the fact that she can tell Lena her deepest fears, fears that she would probably never admit to anyone else but Alex... That makes her feel loved.

They talk for ages about work, about their favourite books and of course Lena brings up Supergirl a few times. They even talk about their other fears and things that used to scare them when they were little.

Kara notes how comforting it's been to have Lena around. She's grateful that she hasn't had to drag Alex away from her evening with Maggie as she so often does if there's a storm.

"I wish I could build you something to take away your fear," Lena says honestly.

"So does Alex but I always tell her that I wouldn't want her to." Kara continues as Lena looks at her quizzically. "As horrible as that night was, I don't want to forget it or lose the feeling it gives me. Fear makes us who we are. I did survive that storm, I came out the other side and no matter how frightened I've felt every time since - and believe me, some nights Alex and I didn't get any sleep before school because it took so long to calm me down - I won't let myself be defined by it and I get a little better, a little stronger with every storm. If I lose that fear I'll lose a part of me."

Lena smiles a thoughtful smile. "That's incredible, Kara. That's an amazing way to look it, so brave and bold and defiant. I admire you."

Kara is a little embarrassed by Lena's complement, but she smiles back. "Thank you for taking care of me."

Lena shakes her head. "Any time."

As they finish off the last of their ice cream, both women come to the same realisation; neither of them has had it easy in their lives but they battle every day and they have come out stronger for it. With a smile that meets her sparkling blue eyes, Kara holds up her last spoon of ice cream. Lena's face mirrors Kara's as they clink spoons.

"Thunder Buddies for life."


	5. The Only Girl I Ever Want to Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is facing Valentines Day alone, her first since she split up with Maggie, when an unexpected knock at her door turns her evening, and her world, upside down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was posted with my shots on FF but is also as its own story as I intend to write another chapter. I thought this could remain here as a one-shot.

Alex sits on her couch staring at the TV. She isn't really watching it; she's too consumed by her own thoughts to notice Rachel, Monica and Phoebe sitting on their couch in wedding dresses.

This would have been Alex's second Valentines Day with Maggie.

The first one with her wife.

Instead, Alex is sat in the dark, a glass of wine in her hand and her phone balancing on the sofa arm next to her.

She's never felt the overwhelming urge to call Maggie as much as she does right now.

It would be _so_ easy to hit speed dial, to give in to the voice that keeps telling her to do it.

She has craved hearing her voice for so long, has missed the cute little dimples that consume her face as she smiles, the cheeky eyebrow that she raises as she flirts, the feeling of her soft wavy hair as it runs through her fingers.

She has missed everything about the beautiful detective for whom her feelings still run like rivers through her veins into the oceans of her broken heart.

But she doesn't do it.

No matter how much she has wanted to ever since the detective uttered those words that irreparably shattered her heart into millions of tiny fractured pieces and then left her apartment for the last time, she can't.

Sometimes she dreams about their heartbreaking goodbye and wakes with 'See you around, Danvers' echoing through her mind. Each time her eyes flit to the other side of the bed where Maggie used to sleep and when they focus, they find it empty, the pillow unruffled, and her heart sinks to her stomach as hot tears prickle her eyes.

To Alex, it's a nightmare.

Other times, for just a second after Alex wakes up, she forgets that Maggie isn't her fiancé anymore. For a few seconds she feels happy in her blissfully unaware morning haze until she realises that she can't feel the warmth of the detective next to her, and then sadness envelopes her all over again.

The nightmare becomes her reality.

When she feels empty and alone, she has to tell herself that they want different things, even though they'd envisioned a long and full and happy life together.

That doesn't make it any less difficult, though.

In fact, it makes Alex feel worse.

It was because of what she wants that they can't be together, that's how she sees it.

She loved Maggie with all her heart; she still does, but she had wanted them to have their own little family.

As much as she tried to convince herself over and over again that she could live without having a child of her own, it didn't work.

As Alex sinks deeper into her thoughts, she takes another small sip of her wine.

Her phone vibrates and throws bright light into the dark room.

**Kara.**

Alex has assured her sister what feels like a thousand times that she'll be okay, that there's no need to worry about her. Kara had offered to come round to watch a film or play board games but Alex had practically ordered Kara to enjoy her first Valentines Day with Lena.

Reluctantly, the younger Danvers had relented and was now probably sitting in her favourite restaurant with the CEO, likely munching on as many potstickers as she can get her hands on.

_Movie night tomorrow?_

Alex pings back a yes before throwing her phone across the couch.

She sighs as she tucks her hair behind her ear, deciding that it's as good a time as any to go to bed.

She quickly rinses her glass and puts the almost-full bottle of wine back in the cupboard.

A knock at the door grabs her attention and she sighs again as she makes to answer it, flicking on a lamp in the process.

"Kara, I've already told you to _stop fussing_!" She shouts as she walks to the door.

She frowns when she doesn't receive a response but thinks little of it as she unlocks the door and flings it open.

Alex's breath catches in her throat. She feels her heart begin to race as butterflies flutter around in her stomach. All her thoughts are jumbled and her brain turned to mush as her eyes widen at the person standing awkwardly, beautifully in front of her.

"Danvers?"

Alex's heart beats faster at the familiarity of the sound of her name as it escapes the other woman's lips.

"You in there, Danvers?"

Alex swallows hard and realises that she's staring and hasn't taken a breath since she opened the door.

"Maggie?" Alex bumbles.

The tiny detective raises a small smile at the agent.

"What're you doing here?" Alex asks, leaning against the door to keep herself upright.

"Can we talk?"

Alex stares at Maggie until she realises what she's just asked. She nods and gestures for Maggie to come in.

She steps into the apartment, her head cast down to the ground.

As she walks past Alex, the agent can smell the floral scent of her soft perfume, the one that she was so used to smelling when they were in bed, snuggling or otherwise, when they ate breakfast, when they were taking down an alien…

That smell used to mean home.

Now it just means someone that she used to know but never stopped loving.

Alex clicks the door closed, her back to Maggie. She's afraid that this is all a dream and that she won't actually be stood there when she turns around.

But she is.

She's standing by the couch, her favourite leather jacket hanging unzipped, revealing a half-tucked white t-shirt, her NCPD badge on show.

_Damn, she's hot_ , Alex thinks almost involuntarily.

Snapping herself out of it, she offers Maggie a drink.

"Uh, just a glass of water please."

Alex grabs a glass from the cupboard and fills it from the tap, all the time her mind still racing.

"Y'know, it used to look so much better in here with bonsai trees," Maggie jokes, although her dimples don't appear as she smiles.

Alex can sense that Maggie is nervous. She can see it in the lack of dimples, the way that she plays with the zip on her jacket, the way that she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth.

Alex simply nods at Maggie's statement as she leans back against her counter.

Sensing the awkward air between them, Maggie clears her throat. "So, how're you doing?"

Alex nods, maybe a little too vigorously. "I'm good." Both women know that that's not true.

Alex is suddenly grateful for Kara's pestering. Had Maggie or anyone else called round this time two months ago, they'd have found her buried under takeout boxes and probably sat in the same position on her couch if she wasn't throwing herself into work.

Kara had insisted and then persisted in coming round almost every day to clean and tidy, to keep Alex going. She makes a mental note to thank her sister because she would be so embarrassed right now had Maggie seen the mess she'd been in.

"Glad to hear it."

There's an awkward silence for a moment while neither woman speaks. Maggie stares into her drink, swirling the water around the glass while Alex watches her, still shocked that she's actually standing in her apartment.

"So, uh, what can I do for you?" Alex tries her best to sound cool and keep her voice steady, but on the inside she is anything but calm.

All Alex wants to do is kiss her, see her smile like she means it, be the one to make her smile, but the mix of emotions inside her quashes her ability to.

There's only a counter's distance between them and Alex feels so close to Maggie, yet with what feels like a lifetime spent apart since they last saw each other, she feels _so_ far away.

Maggie looks up from her glass before setting it on the counter. She slips a hand into the back of her jeans pocket and glances at the ground before shifting her weight to her other foot. When she looks up, her dark brown eyes find Alex's mahogany ones starting at her attentively, questioningly, longingly.

"I miss you, Ally."

Alex's whole world stops.

The beautiful woman whom she loves so much still loves her back.

Those four simple, yet completely complicated words have shattered her world again, because she feels exactly the same.

"I miss you _every_ second of every day. I wake up and the first thing I think of is you and at night I go to bed wishing it was with _you_ by my side," Maggie says honestly. Her voice cracks as she speaks, as she tries to fight the tears that make her throat burn and threaten to overwhelm her.

Alex can't find the words to tell her that she feels exactly same, but not because she doesn't want to say them. Instead, she walks around the kitchen island and stands inches away from Maggie. As she breathes in, she gets another hint of that sweet perfume and it tickles her nose and drives those butterflies in her stomach wild.

The tiny detective glances upwards, taking in every curve of Alex's perfect body before she sees her feelings reciprocated in her big wide eyes.

At least, Maggie _thinks_ Alex feels the same.

Without breaking eye contact, Alex carefully moves Maggie's hair away from her face, taking in the delicate shape of her eyebrows, the fullness of her lips, the perfection of her jaw line, before she takes her soft hand in her own.

Although it's a little smaller, it fits perfectly like the universe had intended for it to be that way, that they had been moulded, sculpted just for each other.

Alex can feel the little indentation where Maggie's engagement ring has left its mark. She resists running her finger over it like she would have done when the ring used to sit there proudly, something that always used to make Maggie smile. The little mark on her own hand has served as a constant reminder of what she had, of what it meant to love someone. Knowing that Maggie's is still there too makes her feel a little better, because it shows their shared pain.

Alex guides Maggie to the couch. She sits down, legs crossed and facing Maggie as the detective perches on the edge so that she's side on to Alex. She studies her hands, her shoulders rising and falling as she sucks in a deep breath.

"You're everywhere, Alex." Maggie's eyes threaten to overflow but she scrunches them together until she feels that she can speak again. "I see your smile in the sunlight as it filters through the crack in my curtains. Sometimes I think I hear your voice when I'm listening to my radio and get called out. I see you when I get ready for work and make two coffees instead of one. I see you in every room, look for you amongst the crowds and no matter how many beautiful women there are, I don't care because _none_ of them are you. None of them will _ever_ come close to you. Every single one of my thoughts revolves around one thing and that's _you_ , Alex. We talked so much about our firsts, and you're the first woman to leave me feeling heartbroken and you're the only one I've ever wanted back."

Maggie can't hold her tears back any longer. They spill down her cheeks, leaving shiny tracks in their wake. She bites down on her lip to try to stop them but it doesn't work. Alex feels her own eyes well and before she even realises she's done it, Maggie is enveloped in her arms. She pulls her tight to her body, feels her diaphragm rise and fall with every hitched breath. It feels so natural, so right. They stay like that for a moment and Alex begins to rock them soothingly.

She sniffles before she speaks, her cheek resting against the top of Maggie's head. "I miss you too, Maggie." She wipes away a tear. "That day didn't feel real for so long. I never wanted it to be real. Some days Kara had to drag me out of bed and into work, other times she had to drag me home. Except it didn't feel like home anymore because you weren't – aren't – there. When I first told you how I felt about you, all I felt was pain because I didn't think you wanted me, but that was _nothing_ compared to the gut-wrenching feeling I still have from us being apart and knowing that you do."

Maggie untangles herself from Alex's grip. She looks up into her eyes and sees the hurt in them, the hurt that she's caused because she didn't think that she could give Alex what she wanted.

"Leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life, one that I've regretted _every_ single day since. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Alex, if you'll let me."

Alex tips her head back and glances at the ceiling, unsure of what to make of Maggie's words. "I cannot tell you how much I would love that, but my feelings still haven't changed."

Maggie looks at Alex determinedly. "Then we'll do it."

"Do what?" Alex is suddenly confused.

"Have a family. I'd do anything for you. I thought I knew that before, but I was wrong."

Alex stares at Maggie once again, a little dumbfounded before she speaks honestly. "I don't want you to do it for me. I want you to do it because you want one too."

Maggie nods having known that that was exactly what Alex would selflessly say. "A family with you is the only thing I want. Being with you made me see what it was like to have a family who love me for who I am, to have Kara and Lena and Eliza and the rest of the Superfamily, but being without you has made me realise that I want something more. You have changed the way that I see the world, Alex Danvers, because you are my world. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to have a family with you. You're the only girl I ever want to kiss."

Alex's bottom lip trembles. She covers her mouth with her hand, the situation completely overwhelming her.

This was not how she imagined her Valentines night panning out.

Maggie shifts from her position on the couch and kneels in front of Alex who is now blubbering with a cushion propping up her chin, tears leaving little wet patches on the fabric. She gently takes Alex's hand in her own, feels it grip hers.

"You're my ride or die, Danvers."

Alex sniffles and manages a small smile, which in turn makes Maggie's dimples dance across her face.

Looking into Maggie's eyes then, Alex can't say no. There isn't a single cell in her body that wants to. She begins to nod, a huge smile erupting across her face. It only gets wider as she sees the look of ecstatic realisation plastered across Maggie's features as she realises why Alex is nodding.

Beaming, Maggie leaps up and throws her arms around Alex, bowling her over. Relief mixed with excitement and happiness floods her entire body. When they break apart, Maggie is lying on top of Alex, their faces barely inches apart. Their eyes connect for a second before they drift down to one another's lips. Alex pinches her lip between her teeth before she leans in to kiss Maggie.

Although she's never forgotten how it felt to kiss her, she had forgotten just how soft Maggie's beautiful lips are. As they caress her own, she feels herself kissing Maggie harder, as if making up for lost time. It just feels so right.

When they break apart again, Alex sits up, the cushion still in her lap. "Can I just ask you one question?"

Maggie raises her eyebrow a little, unable to stop smiling. "Sure babe, anything."

"Why today? If you've felt this way for so long, why wait until now?"

Maggie takes Alex's hands in her own. "Because it's Valentines Day."

"But you hate Valentines Day."

"Not when I'm with you. You're still the one woman that could make me like Valentines Day."

Alex chuckles. "Smooth."

"Always, babe." Maggie kneels on the couch, rips the cushion from Alex's arms and leans forward so that her face is level with Alex's. She leaves a lingering, teasing kiss on the other woman's lips before she speaks again.

"Life's too short to spend it without the ones you love."

Alex knows that Maggie is right as she kisses her back more passionately, with more intensity and meaning than she ever has before. She can feel the hunger in Maggie's kisses as they find her lips, her neck, and the way that they linger in all those familiar places, leaving little patches of Alex's skin tingling, burning, craving more.

They suddenly find themselves swept up in a heated tangle of hands in hair and lips on lips, bodies pressed together, their time spent apart forgotten.

Still, in that perfect moment, both women know one thing for certain; they undoubtedly, undeniably love each other forever.


	6. The Last Potsticker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Karamel. Melwood for this prompt! Tipsy Alex eats the last potsticker and it sends drunk Kara over the edge.

"Hey Alex, could you pass me the last potsticker?" Kara asks, watching Alex pop one in her mouth.

Her speech is a little slurred from fatigue.

And the fact that she's drunk.

"Kara, it's your turn," James says, referring to the Monopoly board on the table.

"Just a sec," Kara says with a half smile. "Uh, Alex, potsticker?"

Alex hasn't dared look up from the board. "Why does your face look like… That?" Kara asks slowly, her brain clouded with the effects of the alcohol.

Kara is referring to the way that Alex's mouth is pinched together the way it does when she's intimidating someone – especially Winn – or sometimes when she's thinking and especially when she's trying to feign innocence and be nonchalant.

Kara fears that she knows exactly which one of those it is.

"Um, I may have just eaten the last potsticker," Alex says apologetically.

Although she's not drunk like Kara, she is a little tipsy and had failed to notice that the delicious little bundle that is so precious to Kara was the last one.

Something inside Kara snaps.

"I'm sorry – Hey, are you crying?" Alex's emotions flicker from feeling bad to a little amused at her sister's apparent overreaction to worry when she realises that she's _really_ crying.

The whole table stares at Kara.

"Little Danvers?" Maggie's brows furrow together as she takes in the sight of the hero as she cries.

Sam glances at Lena, unsure of what to make of the blubbering reporter and Lena just shakes her head in response, looking just as confused, although equally as concerned as Alex and Maggie as she places a reassuring hand on Kara's arm. Winn shifts uncomfortably in his seat while James places the dies that he was holding on the table. J'onn's face is expressionless because he knows exactly why Kara is upset, although it isn't his place to say.

"Kara?" Alex says questioningly, worriedly. She's sat opposite Kara so she gets up from her seat and quickly makes her way around Kara's dining table to her. She squishes herself into the gap between Kara and Lena, crouching so that Kara can see her face as she looks down.

"I'm sorry," she says softly. "I didn't realise it was the last one."

Kara continues to cry uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking as she sobs.

"Kara, sweetie, what's the matter?" Alex asks, feeling her worry grow with every passing second. She stands up and rubs her hand in gentle soothing circles across the top of her back.

Kara wraps her arms around Alex's waist and buries her head into her stomach, and Alex knows that this isn't just about the potsticker anymore.

She looks helplessly at the faces staring between her and Kara. She looks shocked and concerned as she wraps her arms around her little sister and places a gentle kiss into her blonde hair.

"C'mon, Kar, come with me," Alex says softly, placing her hand on Kara's arm in an effort to get her to release her so that she can get her away from the group and find out what's really the matter.

Alex's efforts only make Kara squeeze her tighter. A little too tight.

Maggie sees Alex grimace under Kara's superhuman grip. "Little Danvers," she begins, getting up from her seat. "We wanna help you, but right now you're crushing your sister."

Kara looks up at Alex, her big blue eyes shimmering with tears. "S-sorry," she stutters, letting go. She wipes at her wet cheeks and sniffles.

"C'mon, come with us," Alex says, holding out her hand like you would to a child.

Maggie is beside Alex, her hand resting reassuringly on Kara's shoulder, trying to prompt her out of her seat.

Kara nods as she casts her eyes to the ground and takes Alex's hand, letting the older Danvers lead her away.

"Maggie'll play your turn," Alex says to Kara as well as for the benefit of the room.

Maggie flashes them a sympathetic smile as Alex gently guides Kara the rest of the way towards her bedroom.

Alex walks backwards next to Kara's bed and perches on the edge and gently tugs at Kara's arms to get her to do the same.

Kara pushes her glasses up her nose, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Her diaphragm rises and falls quickly as she fights to breathe through her sobs.

Alex waits patiently for her sister to calm a little, prepared to wait for as long as Kara needs to open up to her. She keeps a tight hold on her hand, letting her know that she's there, that she cares, that she wants to help, that she loves her.

"Breathe with me," Alex instructs, taking long deep breaths in and out, in and out.

Eventually, after matching Alex, Kara's sobs subside until they're little more than shaky breaths.

"Okay?" Alex asks quietly as Winn's laugh echoes through the apartment when Sam ends up in jail.

Kara looks up to find Alex's calming brown eyes looking back at hers, her concern evident in them.

"It's j-just that everything has g-gone wrong t-this week!" Kara wails, fresh tears staining her lap.

Alex's heart sinks. She wraps her arms around Kara and pulls her head so that it rests against her shoulder, gently playing with her hair. "I know, sweetie, I know. But you fought through it and you won! That has to count for something!"

"B-but first I broke my glasses, then I almost didn't get everyone out of that burning building, then Snapper yelled at me – again – for not getting that interview with Supergirl, which I really don't want to do, and Sam is sick and I came so close to blowing my powers yesterday, then you ate the last potsticker and I'm pretty sure I'm drunk right now because I seem to remember drinking some rum and I have a headache-"

"Kara, breathe," Alex says, feeling a little worried by Kara's sudden negativity. "Everyone has a bad week once in a while, and sure, yours are usually far worse than most people could ever imagine, but your glasses are fixed, you did save every last person in the building _and_ you stopped it from falling down, we're doing everything we can to help Sam, we can get your powers back in no time and yes, you are very, very drunk."

Kara manages a small smile at the blunt but light way that Alex exaggerates that last part. Alex feels a little weight lift from her shoulders at the sight of it.

"Listen, I know you're tired right now, especially because you almost blew your powers, but everything is going to be fine," Alex says, rubbing Kara's back. She takes hold of Kara's hand and raises it towards her chest over her heart. "Do you feel that?"

Kara looks at her sister, puzzled.

"Your heart beats with purpose, with meaning, with so much hope and love. You've had a hard time, but that thumping right there shows that you haven't lost any of those things, and that's what's important. Trust me, I'm a doctor. I know these things." Alex shrugs cheekily.

Kara's smile widens at her sister's rubbish attempt at humour. Alex's words mean a lot to her, make her feel better. "I'm still not talking to you, though. You ate my last potsticker."

"Uh, no one said it was yours!" Alex retorts playfully, nudging Kara.

Kara flings herself backwards against her bed, throwing her arms out in exasperation. "You know the last potsticker is always mine!"

Alex laughs, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. "Y'know, if you look at it from my perspective, you don't have your powers, so you could hypothetically get fat so by eating that last potsticker, I've actually done you a favour."

"What?" Kara splutters. "Come on! That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard!"

Alex glances at Kara and sees that the smile is still pulling at her features and she breathes a quiet sigh of relief that her sister seems better.

"Who'd have thought that a single potsticker could bring down the Girl of Steel, huh?" Maggie stands in the entrance to Kara's bedroom, leaning against the wall. She knows that there has to be more to it than that, but she doesn't pry, knowing that Alex will have it covered.

"We're good, aren't we Kara?" Alex says, sitting up and twisting to look at the hero.

Kara pouts and her crinkle sits proudly between her eyebrows as she pretends that she's still annoyed about the potsticker, but she quickly cracks, unable to keep up the act, and begins to giggle when she sees the amused smiles on Alex and Maggie's faces.

"Good," Maggie says, pleased that Kara's okay. "I'm glad you're an emotional drunk and not a violent one because we'd need the whole DEO to handle that! Now get your asses back in there. I've had to stop Little Luthor from coming in here three times already!"

Maggie takes Alex's hand and pulls her from the bed. Kara stays lying down but holds out her hands, flicking her fingers to show that she wants to be pulled up too.

Alex and Maggie both sigh and roll their eyes. They grab a hand each and yank Kara into a standing position, grunting as they do so.

"You're such a drama queen," Alex teases. "Maybe the last potsticker should be mine as a reward for putting up with you."

Kara raises her eyebrow skeptically. "Not on this planet."

/

"Hey Kara, look what just got here!" James says, closing the front door to Kara's apartment as she, Alex and Maggie rejoin the rest of the group.

Kara spies the box in James' hand and inhales deeply through her nose.

"Potstickers?" She exclaims, darting towards James as fast as she can without making Lena and Sam suspicious.

"Yep!" Winn says. "Lena ordered a fresh batch especially for you."

Kara turns to look at her best friend. "Lena, you didn't have to. Thank you." She wraps her arms around Lena's shoulders from behind her chair.

"Are you okay?" Lena asks, moving so that she can see Kara.

Kara nods with steely determination. She's surrounded by people who love her just as much as she loves them and that makes her grateful. Alex's powerful words echo through her mind before she answers Lena honestly.

"I've never been better."


	7. When I'm With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This brilliant prompt has come from KaraLena90:
> 
> Cadmus did more than take Kara's blood after stripping her powers, she ignores the signs of her PTSD until breaking down in front of Lena and telling her everything including the fact she is Supergirl.
> 
> It was selected through my poll on FF which is now open again.

Shivering.

That's how Lena finds Kara.

Shivering as the cool night air breezes over her paler-than-normal skin.

Shaking as she presses herself impossibly further against the wall of Lena's L-Corp balcony.

Trembling as she curls further and further into herself like there's something only she can see that she can't escape.

"Oh my God, Kara," she exclaims, ripping off her tailored blazer and rushing onto the balcony, her heels clicking loudly. She's sure she sees Kara flinch with every clack that echoes through her office and into the night sky. Lena kneels in front of Kara and gently tries to drape her jacket over her shaking friend, but it only makes Kara whimper and curl even further into herself.

Lena wonders what could have caused this, what could possibly reduce bubbly, vibrant, happy Kara to a quaking wreck?

"Kara, sweetie," Lena tries, willing Kara to respond, to let her get her inside. "Can you talk to me?"

Kara doesn't speak. She barely raises her head, but Lena can just about see the redness tinting the whites of her eyes, caused by the flowing tears that have likely been falling for a while judging by the shiny tracks that shimmer against her pinkened cheeks. She can see the way that her eyes flit up to Lena's but don't fully recognise that she's crouched in front of her; they almost look through her like they're seeing something else.

And then there's the fear.

Lena can see the fear and the panic in Kara's eyes as it spreads up to her furrowed brow, which causes Lena's favourite crinkle to sit deeply between them, as it travels down to her quivering bottom lip that looks like it's been unusually gnawed at.

Lena barely recognises the blonde woman that cowers in front of her.

"Kara," she tries again, reaching out a hand to touch her friend's shoulder.

Lena's worry intensifies when Kara visibly flinches at her contact. She feels the muscles in Kara's arm contort under the gentle pressure she applies to it, but she doesn't retract her hand, instead holding it a little tighter to really let Kara know that she's there.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

A sob escapes Kara's lips as the rise and fall of her chest quickens with every struggled breath. It takes her a moment before her lungs hold enough oxygen for her to answer. "T-they took m-my b-bl-blood." Her voice is tiny and shaky and frightened, so much the opposite of who she usually is.

Lena frowns, her mind suddenly filled will a million questions, though eventually she manages to make her mouth formulate one. "Who took your blood?"

Kara ignores Lena's question; she hasn't even really registered that she's been asked one. She feels Lena's hand slip into hers and a part of her notes the little squeeze that Lena gives it, but she still can't see past what's happened to her and to her friend. "They shot M-Mon-El."

"What?" At first, Lena isn't sure she heard Kara right, but the look of terror on her friend's face as she speaks is enough to cement in her mind that she heard exactly right and that, even though Kara seems distant and far from the firm grip of reality, she knows exactly what she's talking about. "Who shot Mon-El? Kara, sweetie, you're not making any sense. Where's Mon-El now?"

Kara sniffles, her breaths still jagged and rushed. "And t-then…."

Lena waits for Kara to steady herself, like she really has to fight to say the words that follow. "And then I solar f-flared."

Solar flared?

_What in the hell does that mean,_ Lena thinks. _And how did Kara get out here?_

Lena had disappeared to the bathroom for two minutes and somehow Kara had got past Jess. Although Kara has form when it comes to slipping past her assistant, there's no way Kara could go unnoticed by anyone in the state that she's in, let alone actually be capable of it.

And why would she go and sit outside when it was cold and looked like it was due to rain any minute?

Pushing past the tidal wave of thoughts swirling through her brain, Lena takes Kara's other hand and slowly but surely eases her onto unsteady feet, something that Lena finds reassuring because it means that she's slowly getting through to her. Kara stands a little hunched, each step uncertain as she follows Lena and lets herself be guided towards the comfy couch.

The sensation of Lena's warm touch against her unusually cool skin registers in Kara's mind. She knows that this means safety and that Lena is okay, unlike the Lena she saw earlier when Cadmus stripped Kara's powers. Kara shudders at the memory that flashes involuntarily through her brain. She clings to Lena's hands and Lena comforts her as her friend curls into her side and rests her head against her shoulder.

Lena knows that there's something more at play here than Kara has let on to but has struggled so far to get the blonde to fully open up to her.

Alex.

She should call Alex.

"No!" Kara cries, tightening her grip around Lena as the CEO leans forward to pick up her phone. It's as if Kara knows exactly what Lena is thinking. "Don't call Alex!"

Lena frowns because she knows how close the sisters are and she's pretty sure Alex would want to know that Kara isn't okay. "Okay, but does she know where you are? Why can't I call her?"

Kara sniffles. "She's on her d-date night with Maggie and it's the third time they've t-tried to go on it because s-something has come up every time and I just want them to have a n-nice night together without me r-ruining it again-"

"Shh, okay, it's okay," Lena whispers soothingly to calm Kara's rambling. She's sure that Alex would sooner know of the state that her sister is in than be left in the dark, as would Maggie, but between Kara's desperate pleas to leave them alone and the death grip she has around her, Lena is powerless to say no.

They sit in silence for nearly fifteen minutes until Kara's breathing slows to almost normal. Lena plays with her hair and gently runs her fingers up and down Kara's arm in an effort to provide some comfort to her distressed friend. Her mind still buzzes with questions not asked, especially as to whether Mon-El is okay – she knows how much Kara values his friendship – but she chooses to remain quiet for the moment until she feels that Kara is ready to provide the answers.

To Lena's surprise, it's Kara who eventually decides to break the silence.

"I saw them. I saw my parents."

Kara's statement hangs in the air as Lena registers what her friend has just said. She knows that Kara's parents are dead, though she's never gone into any depth about how they died. Lena had never pushed her, just as Kara had never pushed her about her father and life with Lillian. It's like they've always had a silent understanding that they'd talk about it when they both felt ready.

"I saw their faces," Kara continues, her voice a little muffled as her cheek is pressed into Lena's shoulder. "As they were saying goodbye to me. I felt the ground rumbling and shaking and I saw the fire and the explosions and heard the screams of every last person before I got too far away."

Kara's chilling words fill Lena with a sense of dread. She realises that her body has tensed upon hearing the fear laced in Kara's voice.

"Kara, who did this to you? What did they do?" Lena can't hold back the questions any longer.

"Cadmus."

That one word is enough to make Lena's blood simmer like molten lava. She knows the fear and the pain that they instil in people, the horrendous things that they do to them as well as the endless crimes they commit. Their twisted views are stick enough, but to do whatever the hell they've done to Kara…

And Lena knows exactly who's to blame.

"My mother?" Lena feels Kara's head nod lightly against her shoulder.

"She put a helmet on my head and made me relive the worst moments of my life, took me to the darkest places I've ever been. I saw the moment my world changed forever. I saw Alex floating in the water tank as she drowned and the fear in Maggie's eyes as she almost lost her. I saw Winn and James under Myriad's control. I saw you being pushed off the building and plummeting towards the ground…"

"But why would my mother do this to you?" Lena asks eventually. "It can't just be because you were with Mon-El?"

There's another long, lingering silence that sits between them. Lena feels Kara flinch as a door further down the hallway loudly slams shut. Whatever Lillian used on Kara, it's certainly frightened the life out of her enough that it's seeping into her present reality.

"There's something I have to tell you," Kara whispers, her voice still shaky and Lena can't help but hear the uncertainty in it. "But I need you not to be angry. I don't think I could handle that right now, but you really need to know and I trust you." Kara shifts her weight off Lena and twists so that she's looking into her striking green eyes. She takes a deep breath.

"I... I'm Supergirl."

Kara watches as Lena's eyes stare into her own like they're searching to see whether Kara is being truthful. She doesn't blink, doesn't breathe and Kara wishes she had her super hearing so that she could listen to Lena's heartbeat because that would tell her exactly how Lena is feeling.

"Lena?"

Lena shakes her head as if to snap herself out of her trance. "Sorry. It's just a lot to take in, y'know?"

Kara brings a hand to her head to steady herself. "I'm sorry," she begins, running a stressed hand through her hair and looking back at Lena, who senses a big ramble coming.

The CEO doesn't let her continue uninterrupted. "What are you sorry for?"

Kara's crinkle forms deep into her head. This wasn't the reaction she'd expected. She thought that Lena would be upset because she hadn't confided in her. She hoped that she wouldn't be angry; while that wouldn't usually be Lena's style, Kara thinks it would be understandable because of all the lying and the secrets. Instead, Lena just looks concerned.

"For not telling you sooner. For not being honest with you." Kara's voice drops an octave. "For not being a good friend."

Lena shakes her head vigorously. "Kara, you're the greatest friend I've ever had. I'm more upset that you thought I'd be upset about this than I actually am about you being Supergirl, because I'm not upset at all. If anything, it just leaves me in even more awe of you."

Lena's honest declaration brings tears of relief to Kara's eyes. They'd finally dried but she finds that she can't control the tears as they fall again.

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you would say that."

Lena takes Kara's hands in her own and gives them a reassuring squeeze. "I trust you too, Kara. I trust that there's a reason that you didn't tell me before and right now I'm just concerned about whether you're okay."

Kara smiles a small smile in disbelief before sniffling. "I will be. Alex told me that I should've taken the day off and rested. It took most of my strength to stop her from dragging me under the sun lamps – not literally, but she put up a good fight. I made her go on her date night but then there was this thing at work and it just… triggered everything."

Lena brushes a hand of reassurance up and down Kara's arm before suddenly frowning as her best friend's earlier words come flooding back to her. "What did you mean when you said that you solar flared?"

Kara's expression hardens a little as she recounts the day's events again. "Lillian put a helmet on me and threatened to kill Mon-El unless I drained my powers into it. I barely had enough left to fly up to your balcony. She took my blood too, Rao only knows why. And I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with a cold because I usually get sick when I lose my powers. Mon-El's okay now."

Lena sighs, suddenly unable to look Kara in the eye. "I'm so sorry, Kara." She doesn't know what else to say, where to even begin.

Kara jumps at the sound of another noise – one that's still loud without super hearing – before moving her head until she's able to fully grab Lena's gaze. She finds that Lena's hands are still in her own, that it's her turn to offer her comfort. "Don't apologise for her."

"Someone has to." Lena shrugs her shoulders dejectedly like she's got no other choice.

"And that someone isn't you. You're so much more than she'll ever be. If I don't have anything to be sorry for, neither do you."

Lena offers her friend a small smile of appreciation before pulling Kara in for a long, cuddly hug that offers comfort to one another and to themselves too. Lena is the first to pull out of it, but when she does, she looks straight for those blue eyes that she loves and she finds them looking right back into hers. She smirks a little at what she's about to say next.

"Y'know, I'm going to have to agree with Alex."

Kara looks equally affronted and confused, which is exactly how Lena knew she would.

"If these sun lamps help you, you should use them-"

Kara opens her mouth to protest but Lena quickly shuts her down with a grin.

"But, as you're obviously going to fight me on this too, I think I should take you home and we should sit on your couch and watch cheesy movies until you feel a little better. Takeout included."

Kara's eyes brighten and she smiles broadly at Lena, something that the CEO finds comforting when she thinks about the state that Kara was in earlier.

"I already feel a little better," Kara says with a shrug.

"Oh yeah? How's that? You haven't heard which cheesy movie we're starting with." Lena raises her eyebrow but knows that Kara loves anything with a good cliché. She laughs at Kara's reply, which is cheesier than all the cheesy movies in the world.

"I don't need any of that. I always feel better when I'm with you."


	8. Sisters and Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Karamel. Melwood on FF for this prompt in which Kara sneezes and Alex goes into overprotective sister mode. The poll is now open on FF.

Some things never change.

Alex waits for her sister to come out of her bathroom and she feels like she's fifteen again because she's taking _for-ev-er_. She thrums her fingers in a steady beat against the sofa's arm, her head resting against the back cushion as she stares at the jungle of skyscrapers bathed in the late afternoon sunlight outside one of Kara's many floor-to-ceiling windows.

She checks her watch. She's wary of hurrying Kara because she knows that she's had a tough day and is probably just taking a minute, but if they don't leave soon they'll miss the launch of the Orion-9 space shuttle and she knows how excited Kara's been to go and see it in person. She's barely shut up about it for the last month and a half, but Alex hasn't minded one bit because she's just as excited as her sister. They just have different ways of showing it, and Kara's enthusiasm is so infectious Alex couldn't not have been excited.

Their love of space and the stars is something they've shared from the moment Kara arrived on Earth; it was a subject they could bond over and teach each other amazing things beyond their comprehension. Kara had so many stories about faraway galaxies that she could share with Alex, and the elder Danvers taught her sister about Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons and how scientists were sure that there were more planets out there in our solar system that they hadn't even discovered yet. They'd always made sure to go to as many space-related events as they could, but this was the first time a shuttle was being launched this close to home. And it'll be launching without them if Kara doesn't hurry her ass up.

Alex checks her watch. She lets out a long sigh.

Five more minutes and-

_"_ _Achoo!"_

Alex's head whips around to face the direction the sound came from faster than Kara can devour a potsticker.

Was that a _sneeze_?

_"_ _Achoo!"_

Alex's body tenses as the sounds cuts through the air again. If this is what she thinks it is – knows it is – and it's coming from where she thinks it's coming from – which it is – then it's bad. It's really bad because that was a sneeze and it came from the bathroom.

"Kara? Are you okay?" Alex calls, unable to keep a hint of worry from seeping into her voice.

There's the smallest of pauses before Kara answers. "I'm fi- _ACHOO!_ "

"Kara!" Alex is outside the bathroom in record time, rapping on the door. Her worry for her sister drowns everything out, so much so that she misses Kara quietly tell her that she can go in.

The door slowly slides open to reveal a red-nosed, watery-eyed Kara, her free hand clutching a crumpled piece of toilet roll. She rests her head against the edge of the door as she awaits the inevitable barrage of questions Alex will fire at her.

Alex's eyes widen at the sight of her sister's condition. "Oh my God, Kara! How did this happen?"

Kara shrugs. "The fight earlier… I pushed myself too close to solar flaring."

Alex places the back of her hand against Kara's forehead but Kara tries to swat it away. With her depleted powers, her resistance is futile. "I'm fine!"

Alex's worried brown eyes look right back into Kara's shiny blue ones and her brows crease over them. "Kara, you are not fine! When did you start feeling like this?"

"A little over an hour ago," she answers honestly, looking down at the fluffy socks on her feet. Kara hates lying – that's why she told Lena everything; the longer she kept her secret, the more it gnawed away at her – and that's the reason she doesn't, but even if she had, Alex would have seen straight through her, even without her years of rigorous DEO training.

"Have you taken anything for it?"

Kara shakes her head against the door but stops abruptly when it starts to feel like someone has pegged her nose and is inflating her brain. She instinctively raises her hand to her head, cradling it and suddenly Alex's arms are around her, offering her comfort. Having Alex around always makes everything better. Except when she's asking so many questions.

"Have you used your sun lamp?" Her voice is gentle, though she's sure she already knows the answer. She guides Kara out of her bathroom and sits her down on the padded cushion at the foot of one her sundrenched windows, making her hair appear golden in the light.

Kara sniffles and wipes her nose onto her tissue. "No…" She hesitates as she looks up at Alex slowly.

Alex knows exactly what's coming next and Kara already knows what Alex's response will be. It's the inevitable disagreement they always seem to have when Kara blows her powers, an argument that usually proves Alex the winner.

Kara decides she'll say her piece anyway, clinging to the hope that they can still go to the launch. "But we're going to be out in the sun, I'll be fine, we need to get going if we're going to make it."

"Kara-"

"Aleeex, pleeease! We've been looking forward to this for so long, I don't wanna miss it and I know you don't either!" Kara puts on her best pout, which does draw a small smile from Alex, but a small smile isn't the answer the younger Danvers wants so she pushes further. "We'll just go, see the launch and come right back, I promise."

Alex considers Kara's suggestion for a moment. She feels like a mean parent saying no to her child, but they can't risk it. She's just as desperate to go as her sister is, but Alex knows how susceptible Kara's immune system is to picking up viruses and how stupid it would be for her to allow them to go. "I don't think it's a good idea, Kara. I know you've not completely drained your powers but you must be pretty close to be this bad after an hour. And after what happened last time… I'm sorry, Kara."

Alex's heart sinks as a wave of disappointment crashes over Kara's pinkened face. As she leans against the wall, Kara averts her gaze so that she's looking out of the window, staring into the distance, her hair entwined with the light breeze that weaves its way between buildings. In the silence of the apartment, Alex grabs some Paracetamol from her handbag, fills a glass with water and plops herself opposite her little sister. She holds out both full hands and Kara takes the offerings from her without complaint. Sitting in the sunlight is already helping her to feel better, though it does nothing to quash her disappointment.

"Not even for an hour?" She tries one last time, taking another sip of the cool water that soothes her throat.

Alex takes Kara's warm free hand in her own. "You almost died last time you blew your powers, Kara, and that's because your cells weren't given enough time to absorb the yellow radiation before you were exposed to the outside world. You're lucky I haven't already hauled you down to the DEO myself." Alex sighs. She doesn't want to say any of this and she's sure Kara doesn't want to hear it, but she needs to. "It's sunny now, but it'll be dark by the time the launch is over so there'll be nothing to replenish your cells after the sun goes down. There'll be other launches and we'll be at every single one of them if that's what you want, but please just trust me on this one." Alex gives Kara's hand a squeeze; she's so close to being human that she can feel the strength of her sister's hand as it grips hers.

She knows then that Alex is right. The last time she blew her powers she got pneumonia and it came incredibly close to killing her, closer than anyone, especially Alex, would ever like to admit; they struggled to contain her human symptoms enough for her Kryptonian cells to regenerate and suppress the infection. She was laid up in the med bay for three days and then ordered – by Alex and J'onn and Maggie and Lena and pretty much everyone else – to bed rest at home too. That was the worst part, except from when they snuggled together on the couch and watched movies all night. That made her feel better. Because of all that, there's no point in discussing the launch any further because there's no way Doctor Danvers or big sister Alex is going to change her mind.

"Always," Kara says quietly, offering her sister the smallest of smiles. "But can we hold off on that sun lamp for while? The humming noise it lets off drives me insane."

Alex laughs and Kara's smile widens at the sound. "It is kinda annoying," Alex agrees with a shrug, the sun bringing out the small smattering of pale freckles across her nose that sneak their way along her cheeks. "You should be okay until the sun goes down." She stands to pour herself a glass of water from the kitchen.

"Hey, could you grab me a slice of chocolate pecan pie from the fridge?" Kara may not have her powers but she's as hungry as ever.

At first, Alex is relieved because Kara having no appetite means that something is seriously wrong, but the longer she thinks about it, the more concerned she becomes. "You must be sick, you never have any food left over, especially not pie," Alex partly jokes. She eyes her sister suspiciously as she opens the fridge. "And this one's whole." Alex's observation comes out half as a statement and half as a question. They'd shared a pie the yesterday at movie night with Maggie and Lena and Alex can't decide whether there is a more logical explanation for her thinking that there could possibly be any left _or_ for there being a brand new one.

"That's because I bought two," Kara offers, watching Alex place it on the counter and cut into it. She sneezes into her tissue before she continues. "I bought an extra one to have all to myself while I binge watch The Good Place."

Alex smiles at just how Kara that is before she cuts a slice for herself; Kara is always stealing food from her fridge. Sometimes she buys extra food just in case Kara comes round, knowing that there'll be nothing left if she doesn't. Often, the only thing that is left is Maggie's vegan ice cream, and Alex still refuses to eat that. Kara clearly does too. "Well, it is the best dessert in the galaxy," Alex replies wryly, repeating her sister's words back to her as she hands her the bowl with the slice that's twice the size of the other. "I'm still surprised it even lasted this long."

Kara doesn't make a comeback; she's already on her second spoonful. The way she attacks the food is borderline aggressive; the clink of the spoon meeting the bowl is so powerful and loud that Alex is surprised it hasn't shattered. "Wow, who took chocolate pecan pie from you?"

"You, actually, when I was fifteen," Kara replies quickly and seriously before shovelling the last bit into her mouth. "I've never forgiven you for it." The last part is muffled but Alex understands every word; she lived with Kara for long enough and has eaten with her almost as many times as she has without to know what she's trying to say when she has her mouth full.

"That's funny, I seem to remember you buying me chocolate for my fourteenth birthday," Alex recalls with a grin. "And then eating it all yourself."

"True," Kara agrees with an innocent shrug, sniffling as she does so.

The sisters set their empty bowls down on the floor under the window ledge. Alex lets her left leg dangle outside the window, her other bent so that her chin rests against her knee, her hands resting against her shin. Kara sits cross-legged, her long limbs taking up most of the space between them.

"Sooo," Kara draws, puffing out her cheeks. "What do you wanna do? I mean, you don't have to stay with me, it's okay…"

Alex shakes her head vigorously. "The Danvers sisters don't just cancel sister night because of a cold, even if it is a super one."

Kara smiles gratefully; she didn't want Alex to leave. "I guess we could watch the launch on the news…"

'Though it won't be the same' are the unsaid words that linger in the air. Both sisters know it. Kara's not trying to make Alex feel bad, nor would she ever, and Alex definitely shouldn't because she's right, but Kara can't help but want to erase thoughts of disappointment from both their minds. She says the first thing that comes into her head and she knows immediately that it will make her sister smile. "I'm hungry."

Kara is right. She sees the small frown of thought vanish from Alex's face, immediately replaced with a beaming smile. It's only when Alex shoots up from her comfy position in the window that Alex realises she's excited.

"We're gonna see this launch, Kara," she declares proudly. "In person."

"How?" Kara's crinkle works its way between her eyebrows as she tries to figure out what Alex means. She frowns deeper in confusion as Alex presses her hands either side of her head and turns it so that she can see what her sister sees. "Oh!"

/

"Pass me the potstickers?"

Alex scoops up the tub from the window ledge that now acts as a table and hands them to her sister before flopping back against the couch with a contented sigh.

"Thanks," Kara replies, tipping three more onto her mountainous plate. She eats another and realises just how good this evening is going to be. "This was a genius idea!"

"Well, they don't give PhD's to just anyone," she jokes and Kara throws a potsticker at her. She pops it in her mouth, much to Kara's obvious surprise. "Thanks!" She exclaims teasingly when she sees the look on Kara's face.

The sisters sit facing each other on Kara's couch, which they've moved from the other side of the room to sit directly in front of one of Kara's south-facing windows. The buildings on that side don't rise as high as in other directions, which is perfect because that's the place the shuttle is launching from. Alex and Kara easily manoeuvred the couch in front of the window with the best view, ordered in takeout – potstickers, because Kara claims that they have 'healing properties' and make everything better – and are patiently awaiting the countdown to the shuttle's takeoff.

The sun still shines brightly from its lowered position in the sky and filters into Kara's apartment, the summer air pleasantly warm. Both sisters are clad in comfy shorts, Kara's tissue tucked into the band of hers, Alex in her grey 'Relax, It's Just Rocket Science' t-shirt that Maggie bought her for her birthday, the words sitting outside the blue NASA logo, a red cartoon rocket sitting in its centre and Kara wearing her 'We Are Made of Star Stuff' slogan tee, each letter covered in tiny flecks made to represent just a handful of the billions of stars that stretch across the universe.

The rolling news hums away in the background with the promise that the live countdown is coming up soon. An excited reporter is currently interviewing the head of the programme, the towering figure of the Orion-9 standing proudly behind them.

"I don't know who's more excited, him or me!" Kara exclaims as she cranes her neck to turn towards the TV. As she breathes in, the light tickle in her throat intensifies and she can't help but cough.

"You," Alex replies simply like it's no competition, especially after that coughing fit that was only partly because of her cold. "Definitely you. I bet he hasn't eaten fifteen – sixteen – potstickers," she chuckles as Kara bites into another. "And clearly counting."

Kara throws Alex her best unimpressed look before reaching for a tub of noodles.

"...two years in the making, and there are plenty more missions that are soon to be underway."

Kara looks at the TV but she's not really watching it. She bites her lip before she speaks, her sentiment initially getting stuck in her sore throat. "I thank Rao every day that my mother chose to send me to a planet that cares about the exploration and understanding of the universe as much as Krypton did, and as I do," she says thoughtfully, the blue of the sky mixing with her sparkling, awed eyes as she looks away from the TV and stares upwards through the open window at the sky that now has hues of early-evening red seeping into it.

Alex nods her head in understanding. Kara notices as she tilts her head a little to the side and she smiles inwardly as she realises that that's exactly what Maggie would do. They're so tuned in to one another, so perfectly matched. Kara hopes she and Lena will reach that point one day.

"I thank every star in the multiverse that your mother sent you here," Alex says honestly, setting down her plate now that she's finished eating. Her big brown eyes convey every ounce of her sincerity, truth woven deep within them. She takes Kara's warm hands in her own before brown eyes meet blue. "And that I get to be your sister."

Pools form at the corners of Kara's eyes and trying to stifle them only makes her feel worse. She also knows that if she cries, even if it's because she's happy, the pounding headache she had earlier will come right back. She decides there's only one thing she can do. She pulls Alex into the strongest hug she can without crushing her. "I love you, Alex."

"I love you too, Kara." Alex's response is muffled by Kara's wavy hair, but Kara hears it clearly, even with her weakened super hearing.

When they break apart, Kara grabs her tissue, wipes the tear streaks from her cheeks and has to blow her nose.

"...with a fifty million dollar investment from L-Corp," the news anchor says in a way that manages not to give away her opinions of the business or its owner.

"Ah. _Now_ it makes sense." Alex's mouth turns up at one corner into a cheeky grin.

Kara looks between the TV and Alex, trying to figure out what the heck she's talking about and why she's looking at her like that. "What?"

"Lena gave the programme fifty million dollars. Might you have had anything to do with that?"

Kara bites her lip and begins to play with a loose thread on her woolly socks. "Noooo," she draws mock-innocently in a way that really means yes. Alex is sure she sees her cheeks pinken a little; maybe they did with her depleted powers.

"And how does one persuade one's girlfriend to donate fifty _million_ dollars to... well, anything?" Alex's cheeky grin widens.

"Not the way you're thinking," Kara replies with a half laugh, but Alex doesn't get her answer because Kara looks over at the TV, seemingly deliberately avoiding her sister's question.

"…The future of space travel looks bright."

"Yeah, almost as bright as the shade of orange they've painted it," Kara scoffs, frowning in disapproval and distaste as the Orion-9 flashes on screen. It is a particularly bold shade of orange. "My pod is way cooler."

"True. Nice change of subject."

Kara huffs which only makes Alex laugh heartily. "She donates money to two different recipients every year; one charity and one project. This year, she donated to the Arrivals Charity and the NASA programme, even though they don't really need it. I told her not to, that she could pick a different project."

"What did she say?"

"She just said that she chose to help fund the Orion because she knew it made me happy. And she let me choose the charity. She completely agreed and we like to think that the money goes towards helping people who have only just arrived on Earth. Even if they're only half as lucky as me, it's money well spent."

Alex has nothing to say to that because she doesn't think she's ever heard anything as sweet in her life. Sure, there are less expensive ways of showing how much you love someone but Lena's heart is certainly in the right place. She just _gets_ Kara, and that's all Alex has ever wanted for her little sister. They're perfect for each other. And the bit about Kara being lucky melts Alex's heart even more because she feels just as fortunate to have Kara in her life.

Lena is on a business trip in North City that had been organised long before Orion-9's launch date was announced and she hadn't been able to wriggle out of it, otherwise she'd have loved to see Kara as excited as this. Maggie had been working hard on a case she was sure she was close to cracking and couldn't have had the time off even if she'd wanted to, although she promised Alex she'd take a minute to watch the Orion's ascendance. She loves how Alex and Kara love space and she's come to take a bigger interest in it too. Neither Maggie nor Lena mind too much that they're not there, though. They know how much Kara and Alex will enjoy sister night, especially because of their shared love of space.

"T minus one minute."

"Heeere weee gooo!" Kara exclaims excitedly, clapping her hands together.

"Do you need any more medicine?" Alex asks after the clapping dies down. Kara still seems to be suffering with her cold, even though she's been sat in the sunlight pouring through the open window for the last few hours. It's also due to go down soon.

"Nah, I'm good." Kara waves away Alex's concerns. She does feel a little better and the big countdown is upon them; getting better can wait five minutes.

The second the countdown hits ten, both sisters jump up from the couch so that they can clearly see the TV from where it sits at the other side of the room. Their eyes are glued to the screen, transfixed by what they're seeing. Sure, they've seen their fair share of space ships in their short lives, but this has to be one of the only non-hostile ones they've seen in person.

" _Three, two, one_ ….." They shout excitedly in time with the official countdown voiceover.

"We have liftoff."

The sisters watch the Orion as it rises from the ground, its base enveloped by blinding orange fire, which sends grey clouds billowing in all directions. It slowly but surely begins to make its way towards its destination. As soon as it's high enough, the sisters tear their attention from the TV and watch as the shuttle appears in the distance from behind the buildings next to Kara's.

"Oh my Rao!" Kara squeals, watching in awe.

"That's so cool!" Alex can't believe how good the view is from Kara's apartment; the shuttle may be far away but the clear sky and bright orange paint make it easy to follow.

They flop onto the couch, slouching further and further as the Orion rises higher into the evening sky and watch until they can't see it anymore.

/

The sun has long since dipped below the buildings but the air remains warm and the star-filled sky clear, the sun's touch permanent.

The Orion-9 has just docked on the ISS a little over six hours after it launched. It received rapturous applause from the Danvers sisters, as well as a deserved high five. They've tracked its progress the whole way through the images on the news from aboard the station and the tablet Winn had given them, which had a higher level of access than the media.

"Y'know, this was way better than actually going to see it," Kara declares tiredly, unable to stifle a yawn, her cold having finally caught up with her. She tucks her hair behind her ears and shuffles around on the couch so that her sock-clad feet are tucked into the corner and her head rests in Alex's lap, her body still facing the world outside. Alex gently runs her fingers through her sister's blonde curls and Kara responds by cuddling up to her impossibly further. "Thank you for staying with me," she says mid-yawn before sniffling again. "And for making this night even more special than I ever thought it could be."

Alex doesn't say anything at first. She savours the moment, knowing that, despite its simplicity and the fact that it hadn't gone the way they'd expected, it has turned out to be one of her favourite evenings of the thousands she's spent with Kara. It was the perfect sister night.

The gentle breeze tickles her short hair against her cheek and muffles her already softly-spoken words. She can tell from the soft, quiet breathing sounds and the steady rise and fall of her shoulders that Kara has been lulled to sleep and she can't help the small, contented smile that reaches her eyes.

"I'll always be here for you, Kara," she replies tiredly, her eyelids drooping closed, her head resting in the crook between the cushions. "Always."


End file.
